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HISTORY OF GEORGIA 



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BY 



T. S. ARTHUR 

AND 

W. H. CARPENTER. 



PHILADELPHIA : 
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO. 

1852. 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1852, by 

T. S. ARTHUR and W. H. CARPENTER, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CO. 

PHILADELPHIA. 
PRINTED BY T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS. 



PEBFACB. 



A SERIES of State histories, which, without su- 
perseding the bulkier and more expensive works 
of the same character, might enter household 
channels from which the others would be ex- 
cluded by their cost and magnitude, has long 
been wanted. 

For some time past we have been making pre- 
parations to supply this want, by the publication, 
in separate and distinct volumes, of the history 
peculiar to each State in the Union. 

The present volume on Georgia is one of the 
series. The merit we claim for it — and it will 
equally apply to the others — is point, condensa- 
tion, and historical accuracy. 

Our aim is to make the vital history of every 
State a portion of the knowledge of its people ; 
to bring down the narrative to the present day ; 

1* 5 



6 PREFACE. 



and, while compressing all those dry details- 
relating to legislative action, to present to the 
general reader every point of real interest in a 
clear, vivid, and picturesque manner. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Introductory observations — Georgia discovered by Sir Walter 
Raleigh — His voyage along the coast — His conference with 
an Indian chief — Reasons for planting the colony — Jea- 
lousy of the Spaniards — A regiment of blacks formed at 
St. Augustine — Disagi-eement concerning the English and 
Spanish boundaries — A fort built by the Carolinians on the 
Alatamaha — A charter obtained for a new province — The 
proposed settlers to be persons in decayed circumstances — 
Their outfits and allotments — Stipulations with the adven- 
turers — Negroes to be prohibited — Private contributions 
solicited — The first embarkation 15 



CHAPTER 11. 

Arrival of the colonists in Charleston — Oglethorpe visits the 
Savannah, and selects Yamacraw Bluff as the site for a 
town — His letter to the trustees — Treats with the Indians 
for their lands — Certain lands reserved by the Indians — • 
Government assists the trustees in the settlement — Glowing 
descriptions of the new colony , 28 



CHAPTER III. 

Oglethorpe sails for England, taking with him several Indian 
chiefs — Speech of Tomochichi to the king — The king's re- 
ply — The Indians return to Georgia — Tomochichi's advice 
to his nation — Georgia found less healthy and productive 
than was supposed — Condition of the colonists during Ogle- 
thorpe's absence — Justice Causton — His arbitrary proceed- 
ings — The regulations of trustees found inoperative — Go- 
vernment assists the colony — Immigration of Scotch and 
Germans — John Wesley arrives in Georgia 37 



8 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Oglethorpe makes a treaty with, the Governor of East Florida 
— Confers with a commissioner from Havana — Embarks 
for England — Revival of discontents among the colonists — 
They petition the trustees for fee-simple titles, and the use 
of slaves — Counter-petitions from the Germans and Scotch 
— The true condition of the settlers stated 44 



CHAPTER V. 

DiflBculties between England and Spain still continue — Spa- 
nish encroachments — England declares war — Agents from 
St. Augustine deceive the Creeks — Oglethorpe's troubles — 
The trustees change the tenure of land in Georgia — Refuse 
to admit negroes or ardent sj^irits — Spanish perfidy — Con- 
spiracy to murder Oglethorpe — His narrow escape — The 
ringleaders shot — Negro insurrection in Carolina quelled — 
Declaration of war — Oglethorpe projects an expedition to 
St. Augustine, which fails — Conduct of his enemies in 
Georgia and Carolina — Condition of Georgia in 1740 50 



CHAPTER VI. 

Rev. George Whitefield arrives in Georgia — His piety and 
benevolence — His Orphan -house — Whitefield's character 
and life — His death 59 



CHAPTER VII. 

Description of Frederica — Its fortifications — Zeal and energy 
of Oglethorpe — Descent of the Spaniards upon Georgia — 
Lukewarmness of the Carolinians — Indians and Highlanders 
assist Oglethorpe — Spanish fleet enter the harbour and land 
— The Spaniards defeated in three engagements — Ogle- 
thorpe's successful stratagem — The Spanish defeated at 
Bloody Marsh — The enemy retreats from Georgia — Spanish 
commander tried and disgraced — The provincial governors 
congratulate Oglethorpe — Charges brought against him by 
Colonel Cooke — He is tried and acquitted — Cooke disgraced 
— Civil government established 66 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Slavery introduced — Daring scheme of Thomas Bosomworth 
— Malatche made Emperor of the Creeks — Signs a deed to 



CONTENTS. 



Mary Bosomwortli for the Indian reserved lands — Mary as- 
sumes the title of empress — She threatens destruction to 
the colony — March of the Creeks — The president prepares 
for defence — The Indians reach Savannah — Bosomworth 
and Mary seized and confined... 81 



CHAPTER IX. 

Fickleness of Malatche — His speech — The president's reply 
— Bosomworth and Mary threaten vengeance against the 
colony — The Indians prevailed on to return home — Bosom- 
worth and Mary released — Bosomworth reasserts his claims 
by a suit at law — Decision of the English courts — Another 
suit instituted 90 



CHAPTER X. 

Condition of the province — Hostile attitude of the Cherokees 
— Trustees resign their charter — Georgia formed into a 
royal government — Quarrel between the Virginians and 
Cherokees — Treachery of Occonostota — Captain Coytmore 
killed — Indian hostages massacred — The savages desolate 
the frontiers — Colonel Montgomery sent against them — De- 
feats them and burns all the lower towns — Returns to Fort 
Prince George — Enters the nation again — Bloody battle 
near Etchoe town — Returns to Fort Prince George — Siege 
and capitulation of Fort Loudon — Treachery of the savages 
— AttakullakuUa rescues Captain Stewart — Hostilities en- 
couraged by the French — Grant marches against the In- 
dians, "and defeats them — Treaty of peace concluded 98 

CHAPTER XL 

"Wright appointed governor — Prosperity of Georgia — Emigra- 
tion continues — Political aspect of the colony overclouded 
— Dr. Franklin appointed agent in England — The legisla- 
ture define their rights and demand redress — Corresponding 
committees nominated — Georgia charged with lukewarm- 
ness — Defence of the same — Republican spirit manifested 
— Powder magazine in Savannah broken open and its con- 
tents secreted — Cannon spiked on the battery — Delegates 
appointed to the Congress at Philadelphia — Munitions of 
war seized — Georgia declares her independence — Governor 
Wright imprisoned — Escapes in the night — Troops ordered 
to be raised — Bill of credit issued — Nine merchant vessels 
burned or dismantled — Patriotism of the citizens of Savan- 
nah 114 



10 ' CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Loyalists take refuge in Florida — Their predatory incursions — 
Treachery of the McGirth's — Expedition against the Chero- 
kees — Treaty of peace with that nation — Unsuccessful inva- 
sions of Florida — Howe's attempt — The American army re- 
treats — Georgia attacked on the south — Skirmish at Bull- 
town Swamp — Battle at Medway — Scriven mortally wounded 
— White retreats to the Ogechee — Sunbury invested — Heroic 
reply of Colonel Mcintosh — The enemy retreats.. 126 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Defensive operations of General Howe — Approach of the Bri- 
tish fleet — Exposed condition of Savannah — British army 
land at Brewton's Hill — Capture of Savannah — Provost 
takes Sunbury — The Rev. Moses Allen drowned — Lincoln 
assumes command of the southern army — Provost unites 
with Campbell — Proclamation of the enemy — Unsuccessful 
conference for the exchange of prisoners 134 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Position of Lincoln — His force — Moultrie defeats Gardiner — 
Skirmishes in Burke county — Campbell occupies Augusta 
— Pickens and Dooley besiege Hamilton at Carr's Fort- 
Pursuit of Boyd — Battle of Kettle Creek — Death of Boyd 
— British outposts surprised and captured 147 

CHAPTER XV. 

Campbell evacuates Augusta — Lincoln proposes the recovery 
of Georgia — Ash defeated at Brier Creek — Force of the Bri- 
tish in Georgia — Campbell leaves for England — Censure of 
Ash by a court of inquiry — Embarrassed condition of Lin- 
coln — Shameful treatment of the American prisoners — 
Lincoln marches into Georgia — Provost advances towards 
Charleston — Battle at Stono River — Cooper defeats a Bri- 
tish detachment — Spencer captures a British cutter — Sir 
James Wright resumes the government of Georgia 158 

CHAPTER XVL 

France acknowledges the independence of the United States 
— D'Estaing agrees to co-operate with Lincoln — British 
preparations for defence — French forces disembarked — 
D'Estaing demands the surrender of Savannah — Truco 



CONTENTS. 11 



granted — Provost reinforced — Siege of Savannah — Assault 
— Eepulse of the combined armies — Jasper wounded — 
Count Pulaski wounded — Force of the allied army — Force 
of the British — Siege raised — Lincoln retreats to Ebenezer. 174 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Heroic instances of devotion to freedom — The grenadiers of 
Count Dillon — Anecdote of Lieutenant Lloyd — Sergeant 
Jasper — His daring bravery at Fort Moultrie — His roving 
commission — Captures ten men near Savannah — Presented 
with a sword by Governor Rutledge — Plants the colours on 
Spring Hill redoubt — Is mortally wounded — Count Pulaski 
— His early life — Confederates with others for the redemp- 
tion of Poland — Captures Stanislaus — Seeks refuge in 
France — Appointed a brigadier-general in the American 
service — His de^th 185 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Sufferings of the Georgians — Mrs. Mcintosh — The forged let- 
ter — Skirmish at Ogechee Ferry — Siege and surrender of 
Charleston — Removal of the Georgia records — Governor 
Howley — Defection of Brigadier-general Williamson — Mur- 
der of Colonel Dooley — Inhuman treatment of Mrs. McKay 
— Defeat of the loyalists by Jones — Skirmish at Waflford's 
Iron-works — Clarke defeats the British at Musgrove's Mill. 193 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Comwallis violates his pledges of protection — Indignation of 
the people— Clarke returns to Georgia — Siege of Augusta — 
Brown's desperate defence — Cruger advances to reinforce 
Brown — Retreat of Clarke — Cruelty of Brown towards his 
prisoners — Savage treatment of Mr. Alexander by Colonel 
Grierson — Ferguson ordered to intercept — Is pursued him- 
self — Battle of King's Mountain — Skirmishes — Clarke 
wounded 209 



CHAPTER XX. 

Skirmish at Seattle's Mill — Sickness of Clarke — Death of 
McCall — Georgians harass the British — Skirmish at Wig- 
gins's Hill — Death of Rannal McKay and others — Augusta 
invested by Williamson — Clarke assumes command — Is re- 
inforced by Pickens and Lee — Fort Grierson abandoned — 
Colonel Grierson shot— Surrender of Brown— Mrs. McKay's 



12 CONTENTS. 



interview with him — Fort Ninety-Six abandoned by Cmger 
— Wayne advances towards Savannah — Defeats three hun- 
dred Creek Indians — Pickens marches against the Chero- 
kees — Closing of the war — Savannah evacuated — Treaty 
of peace concluded at Paris 220 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Condition of the colonies at the close of the war — Re-organi- 
zation of the Federal government proposed — Delegates meet 
at Annapolis — Recommend a convention to meet at Phila- 
delphia — Convention meets — Number of states represented 
— Washington elected chairman — Rules of proceeding — 
The first questions considered, ratio of representation, and 
rules of voting — Contest between the larger and smaller 
states — Vote of Georgia — The executive — A counter project 
— Grand committee of conference — Proposition of Franklin 
— Rule of appointment — Committee of detail — New diffi- 
culties — Compromises — Doubts and fears respecting the con- 
stitution — Territorial suit between Georgia and South Caro- 
lina — Georgia called upon to cede her public lands — Con- 
gress of 1790 — Slavery petitions 233 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Recapitulation of the various treaties made between Georgia 
and the Indians — Oglethorpe's treaty— Treaty of Augusta — 
Florida restored to the Spaniards — Frontier war commenced 
— Treaty of Galphinton — Treaty of Shoulderbone — Con- 
tinuation of Indian hostiltiies — Washington appoints com- 
missioners to treat with McGiUivray — Romantic history of 
the latter — Conference at Rock Landing — Failure of nego- 
tiations — Colonel Willet sent on a secret mission — Inter- 
view with McGiUivray — Indian council at Ositchy — Speech 
of the Hollowing King — McGiUivray departs for New York 
— His reception — Treaty of New York — Its reception by 
Georgia — Dissatisfaction of the Creeks — Bowles the free- 
booter — McGiUivray in Florida — Capture of Bowles 252 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

New constitution adopted — Synopsis — Indian territory — Spe- 
culations in wild lands — Combined Society — Yazoo compa- 
nies — Sale of Yazoo lands — Sale annulled — Seat of govern- 
ment removed to Louisville — Education — University of 
Georgia — Congress passes the fugitive slave law — Liability 
of states to individuals — Land speculations — Fraudulent 
sale by the legislature of Yazoo lands — Sale ratified by 



CONTENTS. 13 



Congress — Great excitement in Georgia — Yazoo land sales 
repudiated — Records burned — Difficulties in relation to the 
Yazoo sales — Congress appoints commissioners to negotiate 
for the public territory of Georgia — Compact entered into — 
Report of commissioners concerning the Yazoo claims — 
Randolph's resolutions 268 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Ellieott appointed to run the line between the Creeks and 
Georgians — Obstacles — Assertion of Spanish claims to the 
Indian territory — Intrigues of McGillivray — Appointed Su- 
perintendent-general of Spain in the Creek nation — Irrita- 
tion of the Georgians — Their determined stand — Sickness 
of McGillivray — His death — Frontier excesses — Georgia 
arms against the Indians — Failure of the invasion — Sea- 
grove attends a council of the Creek chiefs — Friendly dis- 
position of the Indians — Seagrove attacked in his house 
and plundered — Arrival of Genet — His extraordinary course 
— Fits out privateers — Organizes expeditions from Ken- 
tucky and Georgia against New Orleans and Florida — The 
Spanish governor remonstrates — Course of Governors 
Shelby and Matthews — Genet recalled — Projects of Clarke 
— Settles the Oconee lands — Ordered off — Refuses — Is 
driven off by the militia of Georgia 282 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Council of Coleraine — Treaty of New York formally renewed 
and ratified — Discontent of Georgia — Treaty with Spain — 
Settlement of boundaries — Ellieott appointed commissioner 
to run the boundary between Spain and the United States 
— Intrigues of Carondelet — His reluctance to carrry out the 
conditions of the treaty — Sends an emissary to Kentucky — 
Fort Panmure summoned by the Americans — Increase of 
American force — Gayoso evacuates Fort Panmure — Survey 
commenced — Interruptions feared from the Creeks — Council 
■ at Miller's Bluff — Governor Folcb, of Pensacola, instigates 
the Creeks to break up the survey — Ellieott proceeds to St. 
Marks — Joins the surveyors on the St. Mary's — Bowles the 
freebooter — Refuses to enter the Spanish service — Sent to 
Manilla — Escapes — Reaches Florida — Is captured — Sent to 
Havana — Dies in Moro Castle 295 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Revision of the Constitution of 1789 — Cession of Louisiana to 
France — Jefferson's letter to Livingston — Negotiations — 

2 



14 CONTENTS. 



Louisiana purchased by the United States — Claiborne ap- 
pointed governor — Takes possession of New Orleans — 
Flourishing condition of Georgia — Milledgeville laid off — 
Becomes the seat of government — Foreign relations of the 
United States — Disputes with England — Embargo laid on 
French ports — Berlin and Milan decrees of Napoleon — 
Injuries sustained by American commerce — Declaration of 
war against England — Dissatisfaction among the Indians 
— Tecumseh — Confers with the British agents at Detroit — 
Departs for the south — Stimulates the Seminoles to hostili- 
ties — Enters the Creek nation — gains many proselytes — 
Returns to his nation — Outrages on the frontier — Civil war 
among the Indians — Creet war — War with Great Britain — 
Peace proclaimed — Difficulties between Georgia and the 
general government 305 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

The soil of Georgia — Tide-swamp lands — Sea Islands — 
Swamp lands of the Savannah, Alatamaha, Ogechee, and 
the Great St. Ula — Character of the soils in the middle re- 
gions of the state — Lands in south-western Georgia — Chero- 
kee Georgia — The gold region — Railroads — Cotton manu- 
factories — Fidelity of Georgia to the Union — Sends volun- 
teers to Georgia — Mexico — Conclusion 323 



HISTORY OF GEORaiA. 



CHAPTER I. 



Introductory observations — Georgia discovered by Sir Walter 
Raleigh — His voyage along the coast — His conference with 
an Indian chief — Reasons for planting the colony — Jealousy 
of the Spaniards — A regiment of blacks formed at St. Augus- 
tine — Disagreement concerning the English and Spanish 
boundaries — A fort built by the Carolinians on the Alatamaha 
■ — A charter obtained for a new province — The proposed 
settlers to be persons in decayed circumstances — Their out- 
fits and allotments — Stipulations with the adventurers — • 
Negroes to be prohibited — Private contributions solicited — • 
The first embarkation. 

That portion of the United States of North 
America which now forms the State of Georgia 
was originally included in a patent granted to 
South Carolina; first, as a proprietary govern- 
ment, and afterwards, in 1719, as a regal one, 
bounded by the thirty-first and thirty-sixth de- 
grees of north latitude. 

For the first discovery of this portion of the 
North American continent, we are indebted to 
the zeal of the unfortunate Sir Walter Kaleigh. 

Being deeply interested in the adventures of 
his half brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who had 
obtained a patent from Queen Elizabeth, granting 
him permission to possess and colonize such coun- 

15 



16 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



tries as he might discover, Sir Walter made a 
successful application for a similar grant, and on 
the 23d of April, 1584, despatched two ships, 
under the command of Captains Amadas and 
Barlow, for the purpose of visiting the countries 
of which he contemplated the future settlement. 

-To avoid the error of Gilbert in shaping his 
course too far to the north, Sir Walter took the 
route by the West India islands, and approached 
the North American continent at the Gulf of 
Florida, from whence he followed the coast, and 
touched the shore, occasionally, visiting and con- 
versing with the natives, until he reached Pamlico 
Sound on the borders of North Carolina. From 
thence he proceeded northward along the coast, 
and returned to England in September of the 
same year. 

There have been some doubts expressed by his- 
torians as to whether Sir Walter ever visited North 
America in person. But when James Edward 
Oglethorpe, the principal founder of the colony 
of Georgia, came over from England, he is said 
to have brought with him Sir Walter Raleigh's 
written journal, from which it appeared, by the 
latitude of Savannah and b;; the traditions of 
the natives, that Raleigh landed at the mouth of 
Savannah River, and visited the bluff on which 
the city was afterwards built. 

According to the statement made by the 
Indians to Mr. Oglethorpe, Sir Walter was the 



REASONS FOR PLANTING THE COLONY. 17 



first Englishman their forefathers ever saw. So 
favourable was the impression made by the gal- 
lant knight upon this rude forest people, that 
their chief king, before he died, desired to be 
taken to a high mound of earth, about half a 
mile from Savannah, in order that he might be 
buried at the spot where he talked with the great 
and good white stranger. 

The policy of planting a new colony south of 
Savannah River was an object of great import- 
ance to South Carolina, in consequence of the 
differences existing between England and Spain 
in regard to the respective boundaries of their 
settlements in North and South America. 

The rapid increase of population in North 
America, and its growing commercial import- 
ance, had long been viewed by Spain with a 
jealous eye. Already occupying, in right of dis- 
covery and possession, the territory of Florida ; 
the Spanish government sought, by garrisoning 
the coast with troops, to command not only the 
Indian trade brought down the Mississippi, but 
also the trade of those large rivers to the north 
of it. These encroachments could not be made 
without seriously endangering the province of 
South Carolina, which at that time was nume- 
rously stocked with negroes, brought from Africa 
by British merchants, and sold to the rice-plant- 
ers, whose wealth consisted almost entirely of 
slaves. 

2* 



18 HISTOHy OF GEORGIA. 



It being the interest of Spain to throw every 
obstacle in the way of the English planters, the 
most favourable means of doing so seemed that 
of enticing the negroes from the service of their 
masters, by pointing out to them the happiness 
of freedom, and promising them all the privi- 
leges enjoyed by the subjects of Spain. 

To more effectually accomplish this sinister 
purpose, a black regiment was formed at St. 
Augustine, consisting entirely of runaway slaves 
from Carolina; and though there was no war 
existing at that time between the rival nations, 
all the remonstrances addressed to the Spanish 
governor were disregarded. 

One cause of this vexatious state of things 
was the uncertainty in regard to the correct 
boundaries between the British provinces and 
Florida. These had never been settled by any 
public agreement, neither were they marked or 
well understood. To prevent negroes escaping 
from the Carolinas to St. Augustine, a fort was 
built on the Alatamaha river, and garrisoned. 
This gave offence to the Spanish governor, who 
complained of it to the court of Madrid as an 
encroachment on the dominions of his royal 
master. The Spanish ambassador at London 
was immediately authorized to demand that the 
troops should be removed and the fort de- 
molished. 

It was thereupon agreed, that the governors of 



PETITION FOR A NEW PROVINCE. 19 



the respective nations in America should meet in 
an amicable manner, and adjust the boundaries 
between the British and Spanish dominions in 
that quarter. 

Commissioners were accordingly appointed for 
that purpose. They met at Charleston, but the 
negotiation ended unsatisfactorily to both parties. 
The fort was soon after burned down, and the 
southern frontier of South Carolina again left 
exposed and defenceless. 

Finding that the Spanish authorities in Florida 
still continued their acts of aggression, the people 
of South Carolina, alarmed at the danger to 
which they were continually exposed, endeavoured 
to protect their property in future by placing a 
more efficient barrier between themselves and 
their imperious neighbours in Florida. 

With these views, they advocated the forma- 
tion of a new colony between the Savannah and 
Alatamaha rivers ; and encouraged a number of 
gentlemen, of wealth and station in England, to 
embark in the humane design of sending over a 
number of poor people, who had no means of 
i supporting themselves and families in the mother 
country. 

Accordingly, twenty-one persons petitioned 
the throne ; and, on the 9 th of June, 1732, ob- 
tained a charter for a separate and distinct pro- 
vince from Carolina, between the Savannah and 
Alatamaha rivers, by the name of Georgia, in 



20 " HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



honour of the king hj "whom the charter was 
granted. 

Subsequently, the limits of Georgia were ex- 
tended to the Chattahoochee riverj which now 
forms its western boundary. 

In pursuance of this charter, the trustees, with 
Lord Purcival at their head, met in London about 
the middle of July, for the purpose of fixing 
upon some fit person to superintend the settle- 
ment of the colony, and also to establish rules 
for its government. 

In order to carry out the intents and purposes 
for which the charter was obtained, it was finally 
resolved, that none were to have the benefit of 
the charity fund, for their transportation and sub- 
sequent subsistence, except such as were in de- 
cayed circumstances, and thereby disabled from 
any profitable business in England ; and such 
as, having large families, were in a measure 
dependent upon their respective parishes. No 
drunken or vicious persons were to be received. 

The trustees consented to give to such persons 
as they sent upon charity — to every grown male, 
a watch-coat, musket and bayonet, hatchet, 
hammer, hand-saw, sod-shovel or spade, broad- 
hoe, narrovf-hoe, gimlet, and drawing-knife ; a 
public grindstone to each ward or village ; and 
to each man, an iron-pot, pot-hooks, and frying- 
pan. 

For his maintenance for one year, they allowed 



STIPULATIONS. 21 



Mm three hundred pounds of beef or pork, one 
hundred and fourteen pounds of rice, one hun- 
dred and fourteen pounds of peas, one hundred 
and fourteen pounds of flour, forty-four gallons 
of strong beer, sixty-four quarts of molasses, 
eighteen pounds of cheese, nine pounds of butter, 
nine ounces of spice, nine pounds of sugar, five 
gallons of vinegar, thirty pounds of salt, twelve 
quarts of lamp oil, and twelve pounds of soap. 
The same allowances, with the exception of beer, 
were extended to each of the mothers, wives, 
other females, and children over twelve years of 
age ; half allowance for children of seven and 
under twelve ; and one-third for those from two 
to seven; passage paid, and sea stores allowed 
extra. 

Before embarkation, the emigrants were re- 
quired to enter into the following covenants : 

That they would repair on board such ship as 
should be provided for them ; demean them- 
selves well during the voyage, and go to such 
place in the province of Georgia as should be 
designated, and then obey such orders as should 
be given them for establishing and governing the 
said colony. 

That for the first twelve months after landing 
in the province, they would labour in clearing 
their lands, making habitations and necessary 
defences, and on all other works for the common 
good and public benefit of the said province, ac- 



22 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



cording to such plans and directions as should 
be given them. 

That after the expiration of the said twelve 
months, they would, during the next two succeed- 
ing years, inhabit the province of Georgia, and 
cultivate the lands allotted to them and their 
male heirs, according to their best skill and 
ability. 

All such persons were to be settled in the 
same colony, either in new towns or villages. 
Those in the towns were to have, each of them, 
a lot sixty feet front by ninety deep, whereon 
they were to build a house, and as much land in 
the adjoining country as would, in the whole, 
make up fifty acres. Those in the villages were 
each of them to have a lot of fifty acres, upon 
which a house was to be built ; and a rent-charge 
was placed alike upon all, of two shillings and 
sixpence sterling upon every fifty-acre lot, for 
the support of the colony. 

By another provision^ the trustees allowed 
every freeholder to take over with him one male 
servant, or apprentice, of the age of eighteen 
and upwards, to be bound for no less than four 
years. By way of loan to such freeholder, they 
agreed to advance the charges of passage for 
such servant or apprentice, and to furnish him 
with the following clothing and provisions : 

A pallet, bolster, blanket, a frock and trou- 
sers of linsey-woolsey, a shirt, a frock and trou- 



OBJECT OF THE TRUSTEES. 23 



sers of osnaburg, a pair of English shoes, two 
pairs of colonial shoes, two hundred pounds of 
meat, three hundred and forty-two pounds of rice, 
peas, or Indian corn. The expenses of passage, 
clothing, and provision, to be reimbursed to the 
trustees by the master, within the third year 
from their embarkation from England. 

To each man-servant and his male heirs, upon 
a certificate of good behaviour from his master, 
were to be granted, after the expiration of the 
term of service, twenty acres of land, under the 
same rents and agreements as had been granted 
to any other man-servant in like circumstances. 

The inhabitants of Georgia were to be con- 
sidered as soldiers and planters, and provided 
with arms for defence, as well as tools for culti- 
vation ; occasional military exercise being held 
as requisite to the safety and prosperity of the 
colony, as the more peaceful labours of agricul- 
ture. 

Towns were to be laid out for settlement, and 
lands allotted to each colonist as near as conve- 
nient ; so that the towns, which were to be re- 
garded in the nature of garrisons, might be 
easily reached, and each man arrive at his post 
of defence at a short notice in case of emergency. 

As the object of the trustees — having in view 
the protection of the Carolinas — was to found a 
province partly military and partly agricultural, 
and as the military strength was particularly to 



24 HISTOEY OF GEORGIA. 



be taken care of, it was deemed necessary to 
establish sucb tenures of lands as might most 
effectually preserve the number of planters, or 
soldiers, equal to the number of lots of land 
within a narrow compass ; therefore, each lot of 
land was to be considered as a military fief, and 
to contain no more than was deemed sufficient 
for the support of the planter and his family. 
Pifty acres were judged sufficient, and provision 
was made to prevent any increase or diminution 
of this quantity, lest, on the one hand, the means 
of defence should be weakened, or, on the otherj 
subsistence found to be too scanty. 

In the infancy of the colony, the lands granted 
were to descend to male heirs only, as most likely 
to answer the purposes of the donors ; and, in 
consideration of the service expected of the colo- 
nists, they were to be maintained at the public 
expense during their voyage, and their passage 
paid ; and were to be provided (for the space of 
one year) with arms, implements, seeds, and 
other necessaries, from the general store. 

To others, who should come over at their own 
charges, particular grants were agreed upon under 
the same tenure, and on the condition that they 
should settle in Georgia within twelve months 
from the date of their grants, bringing with them 
one man-servant for every fifty acres ; should 
inhabit there for three years ; clear and cultivate 
within the first ten years one-fifth of the land so 



SLAVES PROHIBITED. 25 



granted ; within the next ten years, clear and 
cultivate three-fifths more, and plant one thou- 
sand white mulberry trees upon every hundred 
acres cleared — the raising of raw silk being 
one of the principal objects contemplated by 
the founders of the colony. One particular 
restriction was placed upon all the colonists 
alike, and this was, that no negro should be 
employed or harboured within the limits of Geor- 
gia, on any pretence whatever, unless by special 
leave of the trustees. 

The object of this prohibition was to present a 
military frontier to South Carolina consisting of 
Europeans only ; to shield the slave population 
of the latter State from the artifices and allure- 
ments held out by the Spaniards, and to shut out 
from among the colonists of Georgia all those in- 
centives to idleness which the introduction of a 
slave population is so apt to favour. It was 
further argued, that the introduction of negroes 
into Georgia would facilitate the desertion of the 
Carolina slaves, and instead of proving a frontier, 
would promote the evil which was intended to be 
checked, and give additional strength to the 
Spanish force at St. Augustine. In the execution 
of this laudable plan, the trustees, after hav- 
ing themselves contributed largely towards the 
scheme, undertook to solicit donations from others, 
and to apply the money towards clothing, arming, 
purchasing implements for cultivation, and trans- 

3 



26 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



porting such poor people as should consent to go 
over and begin a settlement. 

To prevent any misapplication or abuse of the 
funds thus collected, they agreed to deposit the 
money in the Bank of England, to keep a correct 
list of the names of the donors, and the sum re- 
ceived from each ; and bound themselves and 
their successors in office, to lay an annual state- 
ment of the moneys contributed and expended 
before the lord chancellor, the lords chief justices 
of the King's Bench and Common Pleas, the mas- 
ter of the rolls, and the lord chief baron of the 
Exchequer. 

When this scheme of settlement was made pub- 
lic, the philanthropic motives of the trustees were 
warmly applauded in all parts of Great Britain. 
Perfectly disinterested themselves, neither de- 
siring nor retaining any source of personal ag- 
grandizement, but contented with the simple 
honour of benefiting the poorer classes at- home 
by gratuitously providing them with the means 
of procuring a comfortable subsistence in a region 
where industry was sure to meet with a successful 
reward, the benevolent founders of the colony of 
Georgia are entitled to the high honour of having 
promoted a design at once generous and praise- 
worthy. They voluntarily offered their money, 
labour, and time, with the hope of alleviating the 
distressed condition of others ; leaving themselves 
no other reward than the gratification arising 



SAILING OF THE COLONISTS. 27 



from having performed a humane and virtuous 
action. 

When the trustees, by their own contributions, 
aided by donations from several private persons, 
had accumulated a sum of money sufficient to 
commence the intended settlement, it was resolved 
to send over one hundred and fourteen persons, 
men, women, and children, being such as were in 
decayed circumstances, and thereby disabled from 
following any business in England. 

James Edward Oglethorpe, esquire, one of the 
trustees, consented to accompany them at his 
own expense, for the purpose of forming the set- 
tlement. The trustees prepared forms of govern- 
ment agreeably to the powers given them. These 
preliminaries being arranged, on November 16, 
1732, the Rev. Mr. Shubert, a clergyman of the 
Church of England, and a man from Piedmont, 
engaged by the trustees to instruct the people in 
the art of winding silk, and one hundred and four- 
teen persons, embarked on board the ship Anne, 
Captain Thomas, with every thing furnished them 
by the trustees, and nothing to risk but what 
might arise from casualties or a change of climate. 
Mr. Oglethorpe was clothed with power to exercise 
the functions of a governor over the new colony. 



28 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



CHAPTER II. 

Arrival of the colonists in Charleston — Oglethorpe visits the 
Savannah, and selects Yamacraw Bluff as the site for a town 
■ — His letter to the trustees — 'Treats w^ith the Indians for their 
lands — Certain lands reserved by the Indians — Government 
assists the trustees in the settlement — Glowing descriptions 
of the new colony. 

On the 13th of January, 1733, the ship Anne 
arrived safely in the harbour of Charleston, with 
the loss only of two children at sea. 

After being hospitably entertained by the go- 
vernor and council, Oglethorpe and his people, 
well furnished with provisions and stock by gene- 
rous Carolinians, set sail for the new province of 
Georgia. 

The authorities of Charleston furnished vessels 
to carry the additional supplies to the Savannah 
River, and also ordered some scout-boats, with a 
body of rangers, to accompany the adventurers, 
and protect them from any assault by the Indians, 
while the former were building houses and forti- 
fications to defend themselves. They reached 
Beaufort on the 20th of January. Here Ogle- 
thorpe left his colonists, while he, accompanied 
by two experienced men from Carolina, explored 
the country in search of a suitable place for his 
intended settlement. As soon as the governor 



LETTER TO THE TRUSTEES. 29 



had selected an advantageous site, he addressed 
the following letter to the trustees in London : 

*' Camp, near Savannah, Feb. 10, 1733. 

" Gentlemen : — I gave you an account in my 
last of our arrival in Charleston. The governor 
and assembly have given us all possible en- 
couragement. Our people arrived at Beaufort 
on the 20th of January, -where I lodged them in 
some new barracks built for the soldiers, whilst I 
went myself to view the Savannah River ; I fixed 
upon a healthy situation about ten miles from the 
sea. The river here forms a half-moon, along 
the south side of which the banks are about forty 
feet high, and on the top a fiat, which they call 
a blufi". The plain high ground extends into the 
country about six miles, and along the river-side 
about a mile. Ships that draw twelve feet water 
can ride within ten yards of the bank. 

" Upon the river's side, in the centre of this 

plain, I have laid out the town, opposite to which 

is an island of very rich pasturage, which I think 

should be kept for the trustees' cattle. The river 

is pretty wide, the water fresh, and from the key 

of the town you see its whole course to the sea, 

with the island of Tybee, which forms the mouth 

of the river. For about six miles up into the 

country the landscape is very agreeable, the 

stream being wide, and bordered with high woods 

on both sides. 

" The whole people arrived here on the first 
3* 



80 HISTORY OP GEORGIA. 



of February : at night their tents were got up. 
Till the 10th we were taken up in unloading and 
making a crane, which I could not get finished, 
so took off the hands and set some to the fortifi- 
cations, and b'gan to fell the woods. I have 
marked out the town and common : half of the 
former is already cleared, and the first house was 
begun yesterday in the afternoon." 

On the 20th of the same month, writing again 
to the trustees, he gives a further description of 
the site he had chosen, and his reasons for select- 
ing it. 

" I chose the situation for the town upon a 
high ground, forty feet perpendicular, above high- 
water mark ; the soil, dry and sandy ; the water 
of the river fresh, and springs coming out of the 
hill. I pitched upon this place not only for the 
pleasantness of the situation, but because, from 
the above-mentioned and other signs, I judged it 
healthy ; for it is sheltered from the western and 
southern winds, (the worst in this country,) by 
vast woods of pine trees, many of which are a 
hundred, and few under seventy feet high. The 
last and fullest conviction of the healthiness of 
this place was, that an Indian nation who knew 
the nature of the country chose it for their 
situation." 

Soon after this, a small fort was erected on 
the bank of Savannah River, as a place of refuge, 
and some guns mounted on it for the defence of 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 31 



the colony. The people were then employed in 
felling trees and building huts, while Oglethorpe 
encouraged and animated them by his presence 
and example. He formed them into a company 
of militia, appointed officers, and fvii^nished them 
with arms and ammunition. 

To awe the Indians, he frequently exercised 
the colonists in their presence ; and as his people 
had been disciplined previously by the sergeants 
of the guards in London, they exhibited, under 
review, but little inferiority to the regular 
troops. 

As soon as his little colony was comfortably 
sheltered and protected, the next object of Ogle- 
thorpe was to treat with the Indians for a portion 
of their lands. 

The principal tribes occupying the territory 
he desired to obtain, were the Upper and Lower 
Creeks. The former were numerous and strong ; 
the latter, reduced by war and disease, but a 
small band; though both tribes together were 
computed at about twenty-five thousand. As 
these Indians laid claim to the lands lying south- 
west of Savannah River, it became an object of 
the highest consequence to secure their friendship. 

There was only one small tribe at Yamacraw, 
the Indian name of the bluff which Oglethorpe 
had selected as the site of his town. It was, 
therefore, thought expedient to open a communi- 
cation with the Upper Creeks also, as more nu- 



HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



merous, and prevail upon them to join in the 
treaty. 

To accomplish this purpose, Oglethorpe selected 
a half-breed Indian woman named Mary, who had 
married a trader from Carolina by the name of 
Musgrove, and who could speak both the English 
and Creek languages. Perceiving that she had 
some influence amono- the Indians, and mio;ht be 

O 7 

made serviceable to his views, he first purchased 
her friendship with presents, and then allowed 
her a salary of one hundred pounds a year. 

By her assistance he summoned the chief men 
of the Creeks to meet him at Savannah, and 
about fifty of them attended. With these Ogle- 
thorpe concluded a treaty ; and after he had dis- 
tributed some presents, according to the Indian 
custom on such occasions, Tomochichi, one of the 
principal orators among the Creeks, rose and ad- 
dressed him as follows : 

" Here is a little present. I give you a buf- 
falo's skin, adorned on the inside with the head 
and feathers of an eagle, which I desire you to 
accept, because the eagle is an emblem of speed, 
and the buff'alo of strength. The English are 
swift as the bird, and strong as the beast ; since, 
like the former, they flew over vast seas to the 
uttermost parts of the earth ; and like the latter, 
they are so strong that nothing can withstand 
them. The feathers of the eagle are soft, and 
signify love; the bufi"alo's skin is warm, and 



INDIANS RESERVE LAND. 33 



signifies protection ; therefore I hope the Eng- 
lish will love and protect their little families." 

The treaty — subject to the ratification of the 
trustees in England — was concluded to the satis* 
faction of both parties ; and as the colonists 
appeared contented with their condition, every 
thing seemed to promise a long course of pros- 
perity. 

By this treaty, a full and complete right and 
title were granted the trustees for all the lands 
lying between the Savannah and Alatamaha 
Rivers, extending west to the extremity of the 
tide- water, and including all the islands on the 
coast from Tybee to St. Simons. 

By a short-sighted policy, which was after- 
wards a source of great danger and annoyance, 
the Indians were allowed to reserve for them- 
selves, within the limits of this tract, the islands 
of Sapeloe and St. Catharine's, for the purpose 
of hunting, bathing, and fishing ; and also the 
tract of land lying between Pipe-maker's Bluff 
and Pally-chuckola Creek, above the new town of 
Savannah; these lands being retained by the 
Indians for an encampment, whenever they came 
to visit their beloved friends at Savannah. 

The consequences arising from the admission 
of this unfortunate stipulation will be found nar- 
rated in a subsequent portion of this history. 

The annual statement made by the trustees to 
the lord chancellor, on the 9th of June, 1734, 



34 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



showed that there had then been sent to Georgia, 
at the expense of the corporation, one hundred and 
fifty-two persons, of whom sixty-one were males 
capable of bearing arms ; and that the money 
received from private contributions amounted to 
nearly four thousand pounds, of which two thou- 
sand two hundred and fifty-four pounds had been 
already expended for the purpose of settlement. 
In the mean time, the colonists had been kept 
busily employed. A public garden was laid off, 
as a nursery, to the eastward of the town, and 
planted with mulberry trees, vines, oranges, and 
olives, for the supply of the people. A beacon 
was erected on Tybee Island, at the mouth of the 
river. Fort Argyle was built at the narrows of 
the Ogechee, to protect the settlers against an 
inland invasion from St. Augustine, and a stock- 
ade fort built at Skidaway Narrows. 

To aid the purposes of the trustees in rapidly 
strengthening their new colony, the British go- 
vernment sold some lands at St. Christopher, and 
applied ten thousand pounds to encourage the 
settlement. 

In September and October, 1733, the trustees 
sent over two embarkations, amounting to three 
hundred and forty-one persons, principally per- 
secuted Protestants from Saltzburg, in Germany. 
These settled further up the Savannah, at a 
place they called Ebenezer, and were soon fol- 
lowed thither by many others of their countrymen. 



GLOWING ACCOUNTS. 35 



During this year, the most glowing accounts 
of the climate of Georgia, and the prosperous 
condition of the colonists, were sent over by 
some of the immigrants to their friends in Eng- 
land. About the same time, a pamphlet also 
appeared in London, entitled, ''A new and ac- 
curate Account of the Provinces of Carolina and 
Georgia," in which, after a high encomium of the 
trustees of the latter, the writer goes on to say : 

" The air of Georgia is healthy, being always 
serene and pleasant, never subject to excessive 
heat or cold, or sudden changes of weather. The 
winter is regular and short, and the summer 
cooled by refreshing breezes. It neither feels 
the cutting northwest wind the Virginians com- 
plain of, nor the intense heats of Spain, Barbary, 
Italy, and Egypt. 

" The soil will produce any thing with very 
little culture : all sorts of corn yield an amazing 
increase; one hundred fold is the common esti- 
mate, though the husbandry is so slight, that they 
can only be said to scratch the earth and cover 
the seed. All the best cattle and fowl are multi- 
plied without number, and therefore without price. 

"Vines are natives here; the woods near 
Savannah are easily cleared ; many of them 
have no underwood, and the trees do not stand, 
generally, thick upon the ground, but at con- 
siderable distances asunder. 

" When you fall timber to make tar, or for 



36 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



any other use, the roots m\\ rot in four or five 
years, and in the mean time you may pasture the 
ground. If you would only destroy the timber, 
it is done by a few strokes of an axe, surround- 
ing each tree a little above the root. In a year 
or two the timber rots, and a brisk gust of wind 
fells many acres for you in an hour ; of which 
you may make a bright bonfire. 

" Such an air and soil can only be described 
by a poetical pen, because there is no danger of 
exceeding the truth ; therefore take Waller's de- 
scription of an island in the neighbourhood of Ca- 
rolina, to give you an idea of this happy climate. 

<' The spring, which but salutes us here, 
Inhabits there, and courts them all the year ! 
Ripe fruits and blossoms on the same tree live ; 
At once they promise what at once they give. 
So sweet the air, so moderate the clime, 
None sickly lives, or dies before his time. 
Heaven sure has kept this spot of earth uncursed. 
To show how all things were created first." 

Speaking of the Indians, the author adds — 
" They bring many a mile the whole of a deer's 
flesh, which they sell to the people who live in 
the country, for the value of sixpence sterling ; 
and a wild turkey, of forty pounds weight, for 
the value of twopence.'" 

This florid picture excited a wonderful commo- 
tion among the peasantry of England. The trus- 
tees, however, represented that the description of 
the country was greatly exaggerated ; and thus 
allayed the inflamed fancies of the people. 



TOMOCHICHI. 37 



CHAPTER III. 

Oglethorpe sails for England, taking with him several Indian 
chiefs — Speech of Tomochichi to the king — The king's reply 
• — The Indians return to Georgia — Tomochichi's advice to 
his nation — Georgia found less healthy and productive than 
was supposed — Condition of the colonists during Ogle- 
thorpe's absence — Justice Causton — His arbitrary proceed- 
ings — The regulations of trustees found inoperative — Go- 
vernment assists the colony — Immigration of Scotch and 
Germans — John Wesley arrives in Georgia. 

Having provided for the security and wants 
of the settlers during his absence, Oglethorpe 
sailed for England in April, 1734, taking with 
him the Indian chief Tomochichi, tpgether with 
his wife, and several other influential Creeks. 

On their arrival in London, the Indian chiefs 
were introduced to the king, in the presence of his 
nobility. Tomochichi, astonished at the grandeur 
of the British court, addressed the king in the 
following words : 

<' This day I see the majesty of your face, the 
greatness of your house, and the number of your 
people. I am come in my old days, though I 
cannot expect to see any advantage to myself; 
I am come for the good of the children of all the 
nations of the Upper and Lower Creeks, that 
they may be instructed in the language of the 
English. 



38 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



^< These are feathers of the eagle, which is the 
swiftest of birds, and which flieth round our na- 
tions: these feathers are emblems of peace in our 
land, and have been carried from town to town. 
We have brought them over to leave them with 
you, great king, as a token of everlasting 
peace. great king, whatever words you shall 
say unto me, I will faithfully tell them to all the 
chiefs of the Creek nation." 

The king then replied : 

" I am glad of this opportunity of assuring 
you of my regard for the people from whom you 
came. I am extremely well pleased with the as- 
surances you have brought me from them, and 
accept very gratefully this present, as indicating 
their good dispositions to me and my people. I 
shall always be ready to cultivate a good corre- 
spondence between the Creeks and my subjects, 
and shall be glad on any occasion to show you 
marks of my particular friendship." 

While these Indians remained in England, 
nothing was neglected that would impress them 
with just notions of the greatness and power of 
the British nation. They were allowed, during 
their sojourn in the country, twenty pounds a 
week by the government. They were feasted 
magnificently by the nobility ; and when they 
returned to their own country, it was computed 
that they carried with them presents to the value 
of four hundred pounds sterling. 



THOMAS CAUSTON. 39 



After staying four months they embarked for 
Georgia, highly pleased with the generosity and 
grandeur of the English nation, and promising 
perpetual fidelity to its interests. 

On his return, Tomochichi told his people that 
the Great Spirit had given the English wisdom, 
power, and riches ; so that they wanted nothing. 
He had given the Indians great extent of terri- 
tories, yet they wanted every thing. He exerted 
his influence in prevailing on the Creeks to re- 
sign such lands to the English as were of no use 
to themselves, and to allow them to settle among 
them, that they might be supplied with useful 
articles for cultivation and the necessaries of life. 
He told them further, that the English would 
trade with them fairly ; that they were brethren 
and friends, would protect them against danger, 
and go to war with them against their enemies. 

Notwithstanding the enthusiastic praise which 
some of the settlers had bestowed upon the cli- 
mate of Georgia, its fertility, salubrity, and the 
almost Arcadian life of those who had emigrated 
thither, it was soon found to be less healthy and 
productive than the imaginative had supposed. 
The colonists, too, partly owing to the absence 
of Oglethorpe, were neither happy nor prosperous. 

When the governor sailed for England in April, 
1734, he delegated his authority, mainly, to one 
Thomas Causton. Other magistrates were, in- 
deed, associated with him, but, as Causton had 



40 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



sole charge of the public stores, they were de- 
pendent upon him for subsistence, and, conse- 
quently, entirely under his control. 

This man, who was of low origin, soon became 
intoxicated with the powers vested in him. He 
grew proud, haughty, and cruel ; assumed a sort 
of gubernatorial state ; compelled eight free- 
holders, with an officer, to attend at the door of 
the court-house when it was in session, with their 
guns and bayonets, ordering them to rest their 
firelocks as soon as he appeared. He bullied the 
jurors, and threatened with the jail, stocks, and 
whipping-post, all who dared to oppose his arbi- 
trary proceedings. 

Among the victims of this tyrannical conduct 
was Captain Joseph Watson. He brought a charge 
against this militia officer of stirring up animosi- 
ties in the minds of the Indians. "Watson was 
indicted, and Causton appeared against him in 
the triple character of witness, prosecutor, and 
judge. The jury returned twice without finding 
the prisoner guilty of any crime, except that of 
using certain unguarded expressions. Causton 
commanded the jury to return, find him guilty of 
lunacy, and recommend him to the mercy of the 
court. They did so : Causton immediately or- 
dered him to prison, and, without passing any 
sentence, confined him there for three years. 

In December, 1734, Mr. Gordon was sent over 
by the trustees as chief magistrate, but old Caus- 



COLONISTS DISSATISFIED. 41 



ton's cunning soon devised an expedient to rid 
him of his adversary. Gordon was refused either 
money or provisions from the public store, and 
this refusal rendering him incapable of supporting 
himself and family, he was obliged, after a stay 
of six weeks, to return to England. After Gor- 
don's resignation, two others were appointed ; but 
the first died soon afterward, and the second soon 
became a pliant tool in the hands of Causton ; so 
that the latter was eventually reinstated in his 
authority, and became as absolute as ever. 

But the colony flourished no longer. The sys- 
tem of rules framed by the trustees was found 
to be but little adapted to the circumstances and 
situation of the poor settlers. The principal part 
of the people had been idlers and outcasts at home, 
and it was found impossible to make industrious 
farmers of them abroad. The tenure by which 
they held their lands offered no inducements to 
any extraordinary exertion, as, in default of male 
heirs, the lands reverted to the trustees at the 
death of the occupant. The restrictions placed 
upon the Indian trade injured Georgia, while it 
benefited Carolina, where the trade was carried 
on unshackled by conditions. In Carolina, too, 
the people could buy as many negroes as they 
pleased, possess by a fee-simple title several hun- 
dred acres of land, and choose it from the best 
that was vacant. 

These comparisons between the two conditions 

4* 



42 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



of provinces adjoining each other soon rendered 
the Georgians dissatisfied, and tempted many to 
cross the Savannah River and take up land under 
the more favourable auspices of Carolina. 

In the year 1735, the British government hav- 
ing appropriated large sums of money to the 
settlement of Georgia, and deeming its rapid 
increase in population to be of the utmost im- 
portance to the other colonies, became more 
vigorous in its efforts. 

Finding that the poorer classes, who formed 
the first settlers, were as idle and useless abroad 
as they had previously been at home, the trustees 
now sought for a hardy, bold, industrious race of 
men, accustomed to rural pursuits. Turning their 
eyes to Germany and Scotland, they resolved to 
send over a number of men from both those 
countries, to strengthen the infant colony. 

A number of Highlanders immediately accepted 
the proposals, and were transported to Georgia. 
They were settled on the Alatamaha, where they 
built a town and called it New Inverness. It is 
at present known by the name of Darien. About 
the same time, one hundred and seventy Germans 
embarked with Oglethorpe, and joined their coun- 
trymen at Ebenezer. Thus in the space of three 
years, Georgia received six hundred inhabitants, 
one-third of whom were Germans. 

Oglethorpe arrived in Georgia the 5th of Febru- 
ary, 1736, bringing with him a number of guns 



JOHN WESLEY. 43 



for the forts and batteries already erected, or yet 
to be built at Savannah, Frederica, Augusta, and 
other places. 

The town of Augusta, now to be garrisoned, 
had been laid off and partially settled the year 
previous. Several warehouses were already built, 
and furnished with goods suitable for the Indian 
trade. Boats, constructed by the inhabitants, and 
calculated to carry about ten thousand weight of 
peltry, made four or five voyages to Charleston 
annually. Augusta soon became a general resort 
for the Indian traders in the spring, where they 
purchased annually nearly tw^o thousand pack- 
horse loads of peltry. It was estimated that six 
hundred white persons were engaged in this trade. 

The celebrated John Wesley accompanied Ogle- 
thorpe to Georgia, with the intention of acting 
as a missionary among the Indians, as well as 
preaching to the colonists. Before he left Eng- 
land, Wesley and his followers were distinguished 
by a more than common strictness of religious 
life. They received the sacrament of the Lord's 
supper every week ; observed all the fasts of the 
church ; visited the prisons ; rose at four o'clock 
in the morning, and refrained from all amuse- 
ments. From the exact manner in which they 
disposed of every hour, they acquired the appel- 
lation of Methodists, by which title their followers 
have ever since been denominated. 

Wesley soon gained a number of proselytes ; 



44 HISTOHY OF GEORGIA. 



but, in doing so, was unfortunate in creating un- 
pleasant divisions among the people. His ene- 
mies charged him with requiring from his converts 
too much of their time to attend prayer-meetings 
and sermons, fixed at improper hours, thus se- 
riously interfering with their industrial pursuits. 
Other and more serious allegations were made ; 
but we may justly conclude, from his subsequent 
irreproachable life, that they were either false, or 
exceedingly broad exaggerations of the truth. 
Finding himself involved, through the malice of 
ill-disposed persons, in difficulties of a mortifying 
nature, he abruptly left the province, and never 
afterward returned. 



CHAPTEH IV. 

Oglethorpe makes a treaty with the Governor of East Florida 
— Confers with a commissioner from Havana — Embarks for 
England — Revival of discontents among the colonists — They 
petition the trustees for fee-simple titles, and the use of 
slaves — Counter-petition from the Germans and Scotch — The 
true condition of the settlers stated. 

The presence of Oglethorpe in February, 1736, 
soon produced a good effect in allaying the inter- 
nal dissensions of the colony, and strengthening 
it against the threatened hostility of the Spa- 
niards. Finding that the Georgians were gradu- 
ally acquiring ability to cope with the forces 



SPANISH JEALOUSY. 45 



stationed at St. Augustine, the governor of that 
place, though still regarding his neighbours with 
a jealous eye, thought it expedient to enter into a 
negotiation with the English colony. 

The terms upon which the treaty was concluded 
were just and reasonable to both the contracting 
parties. But it soon appeared that the Spanish 
ministry at home were far from being desirous 
that a fair understanding should be established 
between the two colonies. Their object was to 
compel the British government to relinquish the 
design of settling the colony of Georgia. Their 
ambassador at the court of London was instructed 
to present a memorial to the Duke of Newcastle, 
claiming it as indisputable that the colony of 
Georgia was settled upon his master's dominions. 
No plainer proof was needed to show that the 
Spaniards were determined, if possible, to compel 
the crown of Great Britain to surrender this set- 
tlement. This was soon made more clearly ap- 
parent. 

In the course of the year, Oglethorpe was 
notified by a message from the governor of St. 
Augustine, that a Spanish commissioner from 
Havana had arrived in Florida to make certain 
demands of him, and would meet him at Frederica 
for that purpose. At the same time information 
was obtained that three companies of infantry 
had been landed with the commissioner at St. 
Augustine. 



46 HISTORY OF GEOKGIA. 



A few days afterward, Oglethorpe held a con- 
ference with the commissioner in Jekyl Sound. 
The latter demanded that the English should 
evacuate, without loss of time, all the territories 
to the southward of St. Helena Sound, as they 
belonged to the King of Spain, who was deter- 
mined to maintain his right to them. Oglethorpe 
endeavoured to argue the matter ; but as the de- 
mand continued positive and peremptory, the 
conference broke up without coming to any agree- 
ment. 

Apprehensive of danger, Oglethorpe embarked 
immediately and sailed for England, for the pur- 
pose of obtaining a sufficient force to meet the 
enemy in case the colony should be invaded. On 
his arrival, he found the trustees disposed to 
suspend further proceedings, as war had not yet 
been formally declared between the two nations. 

At length, late in the year 1737, the danger 
to the colony was found to be growing imminent. 
On the 10th of August, the trustees petitioned 
that the military strength of Georgia might be 
increased to an extent sufficient to protect the 
province from the additional forces thrown into 
Florida by the Spaniards. 

On the 25th of the same month, Oglethorpe 
was appointed a colonel, with the rank of general, 
and commander-in-chief of the forces in South 
Carolina and Georgia ; with orders to raise a 
regiment with all possible expedition for the pro- 



DISCONTENT OF THE COLONISTS. 47 



tection of the frontiers of the colonies. This regi- 
ment reached Georgia in September, 1738. 

During Oglethorpe's absence, the discontent 
of the people had ripened into a settled aversion 
to their condition. They discovered that their 
constitutions would not bear the cultivation of the 
swamp lands ; and that the pine lands were un- 
productive. Instead of reaping the rich harvest 
of plenty, raising commodities for exportation, 
and rolling in wealth and affluence, as they had 
been taught to expect, — the labour of several 
years had not enabled them to provide a coarse, 
common subsistence for themselves and families. 
Under these discouragements, numbers of them 
withdrew to the Carolina side of the river, where 
the prospects of success were more promising. 

Dispirited by a foresight of the depopulation 
of the colony, the magistrates joined the free- 
holders in and about Savannah, in drawing up a 
petition to the trustees, asking the latter to grant, 
as remedies for the grievances under which the 
settlers laboured, a fee-simple title to all lands 
held by them, and the use of negroes under pro- 
per limitations. 

In this petition, the hardy, industrious Ger- 
mans and Highlanders would not join. On the 
contrary, in counter-petitions, drawn up and pre- 
sented to Oglethorpe soon after his arrival in 
1738, while they were silent in regard to the 
restrictions under which their lands were held, 



48 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



they denounced in the strongest terms the intro- 
duction of slaves into the colony ; the Scotch 
asserting that a white man could labour more 
usefully than the slave ; and the Germans ex- 
pressing themselves perfectly contented with their 
condition, while they denied emphatically the 
necessity of employing negroes in the culture of 
rice. The Highlanders and Germans both in- 
terceded for the introduction of more of their own 
countrymen, to assist them in their labours during 
the prevalence of peace, and strengthen them 
with their weapons in case they should be invaded. 

In the German petition, they draw an excellent 
contrast between the land they had left and that 
of their adoption. It is well worthy of being 
preserved, as giving quite a picturesque glimpse 
of the habits of the period : 

"Though it is here," they go on to say, <'a 
hotter climate than our native country, yet it is 
not so extremely hot as we were told on our first 
arrival. Since we are used to the country, we 
find it tolerable, and for working people very 
convenient, setting themselves to work early in 
the morning till ten o'clock, and in the afternoon 
from three to sunset. Having business at home, 
we do it in our houses in the middle of the day, 
till the greatest heat is over. People in Germany 
are hindered by frost and snow in the winter, 
from doing any work in the fields and vineyards ; 
but we have this preference, to do the most and 



SLAVES INTRODUCED. 49 



heaviest work at such a time, preparing the 
ground sufficiently for planting in the spring. At 
first, when the ground has to be cleared of trees, 
bushes, and roots, and fenced in carefully, we 
undergo some hard labour ; but it becomes easier 
and more pleasing when the hardest trial is over, 
and our plantations are better regulated." 

It will be seen by the reader that Georgia con- 
tained two very different classes of men ; one 
which laboured heartily, and was prosperous and 
contented ; while the other charged the climate 
and soil with causing that deplorable condition 
of things which should have been ascribed to their 
own idleness and dissatisfaction. 

Had the whole of the colonists consisted of such 
men as the Saltzburghers and the Highlanders, 
Georgia might have favourably compared with the 
most flourishing of her sister States, both in popu- 
lation and in wealth. But evil counsels prevailed. 
The idlers far outnumbered those who worked, 
and although the trustees stood out for a long 
time, slaves were eventually admitted, and the 
energies of the industrious whites correspondingly 
paralyzed. 

On the one hand, it must be admitted that a 
portion of the settlers had just cause of complaint. 
The land about Savannah was granted indiscrimi- 
nately. Some of the lots were rich and valuable, 
others poor. The farmer who was obliged to 
cultivate pine land could barely subsist by his 

5 



50 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



labour ; while the river and swamp land was so 
heavily clothed with timber, that it required 
twenty hands for one year to put forty acres in a 
good condition for cultivation. There is no doubt, 
also, that the air from the swamps generated 
intermittent and bilious fevers. The sea-breeze 
could not penetrate the thick forests sufficiently 
to agitate the air, which at some seasons is heavy 
and foggy, and at others clear, but close and 
suffocating. 



CHAPTER Y. 

Difficulties between England and Spain still continue — Spanish 
encroachments — England declares war — Agents from St. 
Augustine deceive the Creeks — Oglethorpe's troubles — The 
trustees change the tenure of land in Georgia — Refuse to 
admit negroes or ardent spirits — Spanish perfidy — Conspi- 
racy to murder Oglethorpe — His narrow escape — The ring- 
leaders shot — Negro insurrection in Carolina quelled — Decla- 
ration of war — Oglethorpe projects an expedition to St. 
Augustine, which fails — Conduct of his enemies in Georgia 
and Carolina — Condition of Georgia in 1740. 

Several years passed without England and 
Spain coming to an open rupture, yet there was 
not a good understanding between the two courts, 
either as regarded the privileges of navigation or 
the southern limits of Georgia. The British mer- 
chants claimed, by treaty, the privilege of cutting 
logwood in the Bay of Campeachy ; and finding 



ST. AUGUSTINE REINFORCED. 51 



this tolerated by Spain, extended their claim to a 
traffic with the Spaniards, and supplied them with 
English manufactures. 

To check this illicit trade, the Spaniards 
doubled their marine force on that station, and 
directed the seizure of all vessels carrying contra- 
band commodities. At length, not only smugglers, 
but fair traders were searched and detained. This 
injustice produced remonstrances to the Spanish 
court, which were answered by evasive promises 
and vexatious delays. 

In the me?n time, considerable reinforcements 
were sent to the garrison at St. Augustine, and a 
surplus of arms, ammunition, and clothing, which 
were supposed to be intended for the Indians. 

Georgia and Carolina now became seriously 
alarmed. The lieutenant-governor of the latter 
province despatched advice to England of the 
growing power of Spain in East Florida, and ac- 
quainted the trustees with the fact that such 
preparations were making there as evidently por- 
tended hostilities ; and as the Spaniards pretended 
to have a claim to Georgia, there were strong 
grounds to believe that they would assert their 
claim by force of arms. The king resolved to 
maintain his rights and vindicate the honour of 
his crown. Instructions were despatched to the 
British ambassador at Madrid to demand, in ab- 
solute terms, a compensation for the injuries of 
trade. The Spanish government agreed to allow 



62 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



the demand, on condition of its claims upon the 
South Sea Company being deducted, and Ogle- 
thorpe's settlers recalled from Georgia. 

These conditions were indignantly rejected by 
the court of Great Britain. The Spanish ambas- 
sador at London was informed that the King of 
England was determined on maintaining his right 
to every single foot of land within the province 
of Georgia; and that he must allow his subjects 
to make reprisals, since satisfaction for their losses 
in trade could be obtained in no other way. 

The Hector and Blandford ships of war had 
been ordered to convey Oglethorpe's regiment to 
Georgia, where they arrived in September, 1738. 

The general established his head- quarters on 
Jekyl and Cumberland Islands, to watch the mo- 
tions of the enemy. During these preparations, 
Spanish agents from St. Augustine, knowing the 
attachment of the Creek Indians for Oglethorpe, 
went among them, and, impressing them with a 
belief that he was at St. Augustine, prevailed 
upon some of them, by promises of considerable 
presents, to visit him at that place. 

Finding, on their arrival, that a deception had 
been practised upon them, they became highly 
offended. The Spanish governor, in order to cover 
the fraud, pretended that the general was sick on 
board of a ship in the harbour, and invited the 
chiefs to go there and see him. But the Indians, 
suspicious of some deep design, refused to go, 



Oglethorpe's troubles. 53 



rejected their presents and offers of alliance, and 
immediately left the place. When they reached 
their towns, they found an invitation from Ogle- 
thorpe to meet him at Frederica. They imme- 
diately repaired thither, and renewed, mtli an 
ardour increased by the conduct of the Spaniards, 
their former treaty of friendship and alliance. 

But w^hile thus watchful over the interests of 
the colony, Oglethorpe was continually harassed 
with unceasing complaints from the people in and 
around Savannah. Letters written in the boldest 
style, and couched in the most vigorous language, 
were addressed to him over the signature of 
" The Plain Dealer ;" while petitions, numerously 
signed, were forwarded by the malcontents to the 
trustees in London. They w^ere clamorous for 
rum, for the privilege of purchasing slaves, and 
for fee-simple titles to their lands. 

Finding that the discontent and uneasiness 
among the settlers were not likely to be allayed 
until some favourable action was taken upon their 
petitions, the trustees met on the 15th of March, 
1739, and removed the only real cause of com- 
plaint, by passing a resolution, that in default of 
male issue, any legal possessor of land might, by 
a deed in writing, or by his last will and testa- 
ment, appoint his daughter as his successor, or 
any other male or female relation ; with a proviso, 
that the successor should, in the proper court in 
Georgia, personally claim the lot granted or de- 

6* 



54 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



vised, witliin eighteen months after the decease 
of the grantor or devisor. This privilege was 
soon after extended to every legal possessor, who 
was empowered to appoint any other person to 
be his successor. 

The petition for the introduction of negroes 
was at the same time rejected, out of considera- 
tion for the firm, but respectful remonstrances of 
the Scotch and German settlers. 

All kinds of ardent spirits, however, in spite 
of prohibition, soon found their way, by secret 
channels, into the colony. So feeble or so im- 
perfect were the exertions made to suppress their 
introduction, that Oglethorpe, while sitting in the 
apartments of respectable officers or settlers, 
vfould frequently observe them retire to an ad- 
joining room to indulge privately in the use of 
the interdicted spirits, at the smell of which he 
would exclaim : " Wo to the liquor if it come to 
my sight !" That which he discovered was always 
thrown away. 

The darling project of General Oglethorpe was 
to restrain the Spaniards to the south of St. 
John's ; for which purpose he established a chain 
of forts from Augusta to the mouth of that river. 
But while he was thus preparing his colony for 
defence against the invasion of the enemy, a 
criminal scheme was concocted against him, 
which, had it been successful, would have involved 
the most dangerous consequences. Treason was 



CONSPIRACY AGAINST OGLETHORPE. 55 



discovered in the centre of his camp, and a deep- 
laid plot had been planned to assassinate him. 

Two companies of his regiment had been drawn 
from Gibraltar, some of whom could speak the 
Spanish language. Detachments from these com- 
panies had been stationed on Cumberland Island, 
and the Spanish outposts on the other side could 
approach so near as to converse with them. One 
man of these companies had been in the Spanish 
service, and not only understood their language, 
but, being himself a Catholic, professed an aver- 
sion to the Protestant religion. The Spaniards 
found, through this villain, the means of corrupt- 
ing the minds of several of the British soldiers, 
who united in forming a design to murder Ogle- 
thorpe, and then make their escape to St. Augus- 
tine. 

Accordingly, the day was fixed. The soldiers 
who were concerned in the plot came up to the 
General, and made some extraordinary demands, 
as a pretext for executing their diabolical purpose. 
These, as they expected, being refused, at a sig- 
nal previously concerted, one of them discharged 
his piece at the general, who was so near at the 
time, that the powder burned his face and singed 
his clothes, the ball passing harmlessly over his 
shoulder. Another conspirator then presented 
his piece and attempted to fire, but the powder 
only flashed in the pan ; a third drew his hanger 
and attempted to stab him. The general, by 



oQ HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



this time, having drawn his sword, parried the 
thrust, and an officer, coming up, ran the ruffian 
through the body and killed him on the spot. The 
mutineers, discouraged by the failure of their 
efforts, attempted to escape by flight, but were 
caught and laid in irons. A court-martial was 
ordered to try the ringleaders of this desperate 
conspiracy, some of whom were found guilty and 
sentenced to be shot. 

Another and more dreadful effort of Spanish 
policy was attempted to be practised about the 
same time in South Carolina. Emissaries had 
been sent from St. Augustine to Carolina, with 
a design to stir up an insurrection among the 
negroes, whose number amounted to forty thou- 
sand, Avhile the entire white population of that 
province did not exceed more than five thousand. 

This nefarious design was only partially suc- 
cessful. A number of negroes collected at Stono, 
hoisted their standard, and proclaimed open re- 
bellion. They marched through the country, with 
drums beating and colours flying ; plundered and 
burned several houses, and murdered men, women, 
and children. But for the circumstance of the 
English carrying their guns with them to church, 
an indiscriminate massacre of the whites must 
have ensued. Fortunately, the armed men from 
the church made a judicious attack upon the head- 
quarters of the negroes, and they were either killed 
or dispersed. 



WAR DECLARED. 57 



Oglethorpe, having been advised of the insur- 
rection in the neighbouring province, redoubled 
his vigilance in Georgia, and seized all straggling 
negroes and Spaniards who were found passing 
through the colony. 

In the mean time, matters were hastening to 
a rupture in Europe, and a war between England 
and Spain appeared to be inevitable. Plenipo- 
tentiaries met at Pardo in convention, but the con- 
ference terminated as before, unsatisfactorily to 
both parties. The spirit of the English people 
was now fully roused : hostile preparations were 
made ; all the officers of the army and navy 
were ordered to their stations, and with the 
unanimous voice of the nation, war was declared 
against Spain, on the 23d of October, 1739. 

Admiral Vernon was sent to take command of 
a squadron on the AYest India station, with orders 
to act offensively against the Spanish dominions in 
that quarter, so as to divide their force. General 
Oglethorpe was ordered to annoy the subjects of 
Spain in Florida, by every method in his power. 
Acting under these instructions, he projected an 
expedition against the Spanish settlement at St. 
Augustine, in which he was warmly seconded by 
the authorities of South Carolina. Owing to a 
combination of untoward circumstances, this ex- 
pedition signally failed, and Oglethorpe returned 
to Frederica on the 10th of July, 1740. 

His conduct during this short and unfortunate 



68 HISTORY OF GEORGHA. 



campaign was bitterly censured, and maliciously 
criticised, by the news-mongers and pamphleteers 
of the province, by whom he was alternately 
charged with cowardice, despotism, cruelty, and 
bribery. That these charges were without the 
shadow of foundation in truth, the whole life of 
this amiable and energetic gentleman testified. 
Without any views to his own interests, his whole 
efforts were directed to the enlargement of the 
dominions of his country, the propagation of the 
Protestant religion, and providing for the wants 
and necessities of the indigent. He had volun- 
tarily banished himself from the pleasures of a 
court, and exposed himself to the dangers of the 
ocean, in several perilous and tedious voyages. 
Instead of allowing himself the satisfaction which 
a plentiful fortune, powerful friends, and great 
merit entitled him to in England, he had inured 
himself to hardships and exposures, in common 
with the poor settlers ; his food, boiled rice, 
mouldy bread, salt beef and pork ; his bed the 
damp ground, and his covering the canopy of 
heaven. 

The settlers of Georgia had not increased with 
that rapidity which had been anticipated by the 
trustees, nor was its condition by any means 
flourishing, considering the immense sums of 
money which had been expended. The number 
of colonists sent to Georgia, and supported at the 
expense of the trustees, was found, at the close 



EEV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 59 



of the eighth year, to be fifteen hundred and 
twenty-one, of whom six hundred and eighty-six 
were men capable of bearing arms. The amount 
expended in the settlement, up to the same period 
of time, were one hundred and twelve thousand 
pounds. Of this amount, ninety-four thousand 
pounds were appropriated by the British Parlia- 
ment, and the balance raised by private contri- 
butions. Those who came at their own charges 
are not included in the above statement, nor is 
the number of them known. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Rev. George Whitefield arrives in Georgia — 'His piety and 
benevolence — His Orphan-house — Whitefield's character and 
Ufe — His death. 

The Rev. George Whitefield, who merits par- 
ticular notice in the history of Georgia, arrived 
at Savannah in May, 1738. This celebrated field 
preacher was born in 1714, in Gloucester, Eng- 
land. At twelve years of age he was put to a 
grammar-school, and at sixteen he was admitted 
servitor in Pembroke College, Oxford, where he 
distinguished himself by the austerities of his de- 
votion. At the age of twenty-one, the fame of 
his piety recommended him so effectually to Dr. 
Benson, Bishop of Gloucester, that he ordained 



60 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



him. Immediately after Mr. Whitefield's admis- 
sion into the ministry, he applied himself with the 
most extraordinary and indefatigable zeal and 
industry to the duties of his calling, preaching 
daily in the prisons, fields, and open streets, 
wherever he thought there would be a likelihood 
of making religious impressions. Having at length 
made himself universally known in England, he 
applied to the trustees for establishing the colony 
of Georgia, for a grant of a tract of land near 
Savannah, with the benevolent intention of build- 
ing an orphan-house, designed as an asylum for 
poor children, who were to be clothed and fed by 
charitable contributions, and educated in the 
knowledge and practice of Christianity. In his 
efforts for the propagation of religion, Whitefield 
several times crossed the Atlantic Ocean to con- 
vert the Americans, whom he addressed in such 
manner as if they had been all equally strangers 
to the privileges and benefits of religion, with the 
aborigines of the forest. However, his zeal never 
led him beyond the maritime parts of America, 
through which he travelled, spreading his faith 
among the most populous towns and villages. 
Wherever he went in America, as in Britain, he 
had multitudes of followers. When he first visited 
Charleston, Alexander Garden, who was an Epis- 
copal clergyman in that place, took occasion to 
point out the pernicious tendency of Whitefield's 
doctrines and irregular manner of life. He repre- 



REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 61 



sented him as a religious impostor or quack, who 
had an excellent way of setting off, disguising, and 
rendering palatable his poisonous tenets. On the 
other hand, Mr. Whitefield, who had been accus- 
tomed to stand reproach and face opposition, 
retorted in his own peculiar way. On one occa- 
sion, Alexander Garden, to keep his flock from 
going after this strange pastor, expatiated on these 
words of Scripture : " Those that have turned the 
world upside down are come hither also." Mr. 
Whitefield, with all the force of comic humour 
and wit for which he was distinguished, by way 
of reply enlarged upon these words : '' Alexander 
the copper-smith hath done me much evil : the 
Lord reward him according to his works." 

Mr. Whitefield commenced the building of his 
orphan-house in Georgia in 1740, on a sandy 
bluff near the sea-shore, on a tract of land granted 
to him for the purpose by the trustees ; the house 
was built of wood, and was seventy feet by forty. 
To this house poor children were sent, to be sup- 
ported partly by charity, and partly by the pro- 
ducts of the land cultivated by negroes. 

Mr. Whitefield took the healthiness of the place 
for granted, from its similarity of situation to that 
of Frederica, and having formed the project, he 
determined to persevere, priding himself on sur- 
mounting every obstacle and difficulty. He tra- 
velled through the British empire, setting forth 
the excellence of his design, and obtained from 

6 



62 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



charitable people money, clothes, and books, to 
forward his undertaking and supply his poor 
orphans in Georgia. The house was finished, and 
furnished with an excellent library ; but, owing 
most probably to the unhealthiness of the situa- 
tion, the institution never flourished to the extent 
of his expectations and wishes, though a great 
sum of money was expended in bringing it to 
maturity. 

The talents of Mr. Whitefield were extraordi- 
nary. His influence and weight at that day cer- 
tainly made him one of the most useful men in 
America. He had many friends and admirers 
among men of the first influence and respecta- 
bility, and followers from all classes. He was so 
popular in preaching, that his churches or places 
of religious resort were crowded a long time be- 
fore he appeared. Often when he preached in a 
church, a line was extended outwards, there being 
no room to go in ; and at the door pious persons 
were soliciting for leave " only to see his blessed 
face," though they could not hear him. Such were 
the respect, enthusiasm, and regard he had in- 
spired, owing to his sincerity, faith, zeal, and 
truly great and extraordinary talents. It is re- 
lated of the accomplished Lord Chesterfield, that 
he once observed, " Mr. Whitefield is the greatest 
orator I have ever heard, and I cannot conceive 
of a greater." His writings are said toafi"ordno 
idea of his oratorical powers : his person, his de- 



BEV. GEORGE WUITEFIELD. 6B 



livery, his boldness, his zeal and sincerity of pur- 
pose in the propagation of the gospel, made him a 
truly wonderful man in the pulpit, while his printed 
sermons give the impression of only an indifferent 
preacher. It is not an easy task to delineate his 
character. He was in the British empire not un- 
like one of those strange and erratic meteors 
which appear now and then in the system of na- 
ture. He often lamented that in his youth he 
was gay and giddy; so fondly attached to the 
stage, that he frequently recited difficult pieces 
while he was at school, with such great applause, 
that Garrick observed of him that the stage had 
lost an ornament. Then he probably acquired 
those gestures, which he practised under his 
clerical robes with great success and advantage 
upon the feelings of his hearers. 

After receiving his ordination in the Church of 
England, he refused submission to the regulations 
either of that or any other particular church, but 
became a preacher in churches, meeting-houses, 
halls, fields, in all places and to all denominations, 
without exception. Though not distinguished for 
his learning, he had a lively imagination, much 
humour, and had acquired a great knowledge of 
human nature and the customs of the world. He 
possessed a large share of humanity and benevo- 
lence ; but frequently displayed an excessive 
warmth of temper when roused by opposition and 
contradiction. His readina: was inconsiderable, 



64 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



but he had an extraordinary memory, and man- 
kind being one of the great objects of his study, 
he could, when he pleased, raise the passions and 
excite the emotions of the human heart with 
admirable skill and fervour. By his affecting 
eloquence and address, he impressed on the minds 
of many, especially of the more soft and delicate 
sex, such a strong sense of sin and guilt as often 
plunged them into dejection and despair. While 
he was almost worshipped by the lower order, 
men of superior rank and erudition found him the 
polite gentleman, and the facetious and jocular 
companion. Though he loved good cheer, and 
frequented the houses of the rich and hospitable, 
yet he was an enemy to all manner of excess and 
intemperance. While his disposition to travel led 
him from place to place, his natural discernment 
enabled him to form correct opinions of the cha- 
racters and manners of men, wherever he went. 
Though he gave a preference to no particular 
established church, yet good policy winked at all 
his eccentricities, as he everywhere supported the 
character of a steady friend to civil government. 
He had great talents for exciting the curiosity of 
the multitude, and his roving manner stamped a 
kind of novelty on his instructions. When ex- 
posed to the taunts of the irreligious scoffer and the 
ridicule of the flagitious, he remained firm to his 
purpose, and could retort upon his deriders with 
astonishing ease and dexterity, and render vice 



REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 65 



abashed under the lash of his satire and wit. In 
short, though he was said to have had many oddi- 
ties, yet few will undertake to deny that religion 
in America was greatly indebted to the zeal, 
diligence, and oratory of this extraordinary man. 
After a long course of peregrination, his fortune 
increased as his fame extended among his follow- 
ers, and he erected two very extensive buildings 
for public worship in London, under the name 
of tabernacles : one in Tottenham Court road, and 
the other at Moorfields, where, by the help of 
some assistants, he continued several years, at- 
tended by very crowded congregations. By being 
chaplain to the Countess-dowager of Hunting- 
don, he was also connected with two other reli- 
gious meetings : one at Bath, and the other at 
Tunbridge, chiefly erected under that virtuous 
lady's patronage. 

In America, which had engaged much of his 
attention, Mr. Whitefield was destined to close 
his eyes. He died at Newburyport, Massachu- 
setts, in 1770. When the report of his decease 
reached the legislature of Georgia, honourable 
mention was made of him, and a sum of money 
was appropriated, with a unanimous voice, for 
bringing his remains to Georgia, to be interred 
at his orphan-house ; but the inhabitants of New- 
buryport, being much attached to him when living, 
objected to the removal of his body, and the de- 
sign was relinquished. 

6* 



66 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



In a letter from Dr. Franklin to Dr. Jones, 
mentioning Mr. Whitefield, he says, "I cannot 
forbear expressing the pleasure it gives me to see 
an account of the respect paid to his memory by 
your assembly : I kne^y him intimately upwards 
of thirty years ; his integrity, disinterestedness, 
and indefatigable zeal, in prosecuting every good 
work, I have never seen equalled, I shall never 
see excelled." 



CHAPTER VII. 

Description of Frederica — Its fortifications — 'Zeal and energy 
of Oglethorpe — Descent of the Spaniards upon Georgia — 
Lukewarmness of the Carolinians — Indians and Highlanders 
assist Oglethorpe — Spanish fleet enter the harbour and land 
■ — The Spaniards defeated in three engagements — Ogle- 
thorpe's successful stratagem — The Spanish defeated at 
Bloody Marsh — 'The enemy retreats from Georgia — Spanish 
commander tried and disgraced^ — The provincial governors 
congratulate Oglethorpe — ^Charges brought against him by 
Colonel Cook — He is tried and acquitted — Cook disgraced 
• — Civil government established. 

Frederica, the head-quarters of General Ogle- 
thorpe, was settled in 1736, on the island of St. 
Simons, south of the Alatamaha, and on the west 
side of that island about the centre. It stands 
upon a high bluff, compared with the marshes in 
its front. The shore is washed by a fine river, 
which communicates with the Alatamaha, and 



FREDEMCA., 67 



enters the ocean through Jekyl Sound, at the 
south end of the island. The river forms a bay be- 
fore the town, and is navigable for vessels of large 
burden. The town was defended by a pretty 
strong fort of tappy, and several eighteen-pound- 
ers were mounted on a ravelin in front, which 
commanded the river. The fort was surrounded 
by regular ramparts, had four bastions of earth, 
stockaded and turfed, and a palisaded ditch, 
which included the storehouses ; two large and 
spacious buildings of brick and timber, with seve- 
ral pieces of ordnance mounted on the rampart. 
The town was also surrounded by a rampart, with 
flankers of the same thickness as that round the 
fort, in form of a pentagon, and a dry ditch. 
The whole circumference of the town was about 
a mile and a half. 

The town had two gates, called the town and 
water posts ; next to the latter was the guard- 
house, under which was a prison handsomely 
built of brick. 

At the north end the barracks were built of 
tappy, and near them the magazine. A road was 
opened to the southward, to the plantations of 
Captain Demere, Mr. Hawkins, and General 
Oglethorpe ; the latter, at a little distance, re- 
sembled a neat little country village : farther on 
were several families of Saltzburghers. A look- 
out of rangers was kept at Bachelor's Bluff, on 
the main. A corporal's guard at Pike's Bluff on 



68 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



the north, and a canal was cut through the gene- 
ral's island to facilitate communication with 
Darien. Frederica was laid out with spacious 
streets, named after the officers, and margined 
with orange trees. 

At the south point of the island was the little 
town of St. Simons ; near it a small battery was 
built as a watch-tower to discover vessels at sea, 
and upon such discovery an alarm-gun was fired, 
and a horseman despatched to head-quarters about 
nine miles distant. In case an enemy appeared, 
the number of guns fired indicated the number 
of vessels. 

Forts and batteries were also erected on the 
north end of Jekyl Island, (where a brewery was 
established to make beer for the troops,) on the 
north end of Cumberland Island, near St. An- 
drew's Sound, and at the mouth of St. John's 
River. A stronger proof cannot be given of 
General Oglethorpe's zeal and indefatigable in- 
dustry, than that all these fortifications were 
erected in seven months. 

The time was now advancing when these de- 
fences were to be found useful. The squadron 
of Admiral Vernon had, for some time, occupied 
so much the attention of the enemy in the West 
Indies, that none of the Spanish fleet could be 
spared to contest their supposed right to the 
southern portion of Georgia. But no sooner 
had the greatest part of the British fleet left 



SPANISH INVASION, 69 



those seas and returned to England, than the 
Spaniards commenced their preparations for a 
descent upon Oglethorpe's settlement. 

Accordingly, two thousand troops, commanded 
by Don Antonio de Rodondo, embarked at Ha- 
vana, and arrived about the first of May, 1742, 
at St. Augustine ; but before they had reached 
their destination, they were discovered by the 
captain of an English cruiser, who notified Ogle- 
thorpe of the impending danger. The latter 
immediately sent intelligence to Governor Glen 
of South Carolina, requesting his military assist- 
ance Avith all possible expedition, and at the same 
time he despatched a sloop to the West Indies to 
acquaint Admiral Yernon w^ith the expected in- 
vasion. 

But though the Carolinians had found great 
advantage from the settlement of Georgia, and 
were equally interested with their neighbours in 
making a vigorous defence, they had but little 
confidence in Oglethorpe's abilities after his un- 
successful expedition against St. Augustine. 

The inhabitants of Charleston declared against 
sending him any assistance. They determined to 
fortify their town and defend themselves upon 
their own ground, leaving Oglethorpe to stand or 
fall against a far superior force. 

In the mean time, the general sent messages 
to his faithful Indian allies, who gathered to his 
assistance in the hour of danger. 



70 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



Captain Mcintosh's Highlanders, burning to 
revenge the loss of their companions who had 
been overwhelmed by the Spaniards at the re- 
capture of Fort Moosa, marched from Darien 
and joined Oglethorpe on the first intimation of 
the enemy's approach. With these, and his re- 
giment at Frederica, the general determined to 
stand his ground, still hoping for reinforcements 
from Carolina, and expecting their arrival every 
hour. 

On the 21st of June, nine sail of Spanish ves- 
sels came into Amelia Sound, but were repulsed 
by a brisk cannonade from Fort William. 

When Oglethorpe was advised of this attack, 
he resolved to support the fortifications on Cum- 
berland, and set out with a detachment on board 
of his boats. He sent Captain Horton with his 
company of grenadiers in front, and was himself 
obliged to fight his way, in two boats, through 
fourteen sail of Spanish vessels, which endea- 
voured to intercept him in St. Andrew's Sound. 
Owing to the cowardice of Lieutenant Tolson, 
who commanded the boat of the greatest strength, 
and was afraid to follow the general, fears were 
entertained for the safety of the latter, but he 
succeeded in returning the next day to St. Simons. 

On the 28th of June, the Spanish fleet, amount- 
ing to thirty-six sail, and carrying upwards of 
five thousand men, under the command of Don 
Manuel Monteano, came to anchor 02" St. Simon's 



SPANISH ENTER THE HARBOUR. 71 



Bar, where they remained until the 5th of July, 
sounding the channel. After finding a depth of 
water sufficient to float the ships, they came in 
on the flood-tide. They were received with a 
brisk fire from the batteries and the vessel. All 
the attempts of the Spaniards to board the ships 
in the harbour were repulsed with considerable 
loss. In this engagement, which lasted upwards 
of three hours, the enemy lost seventeen killed 
and ten wounded. 

The fleet anchored about a mile above Ogle- 
thorpe's works, on the south end of the island, 
hoisted a red flag at the mizzen topmast head 
of the largest ship, landed their forces upon the 
island, and erected a battery, on which twenty 
eighteen-pounders were mounted. 

Among their land forces, they had a fine regi- 
ment of artillery, under the command of Don 
Antonio de Rodondo, and a regiment of negroes. 
The negro commanders were clothed in lace, bore 
the same rank with the white officers, and with 
equal freedom and familiarity, walked and con- 
versed with the commander-in-chief. When Ogle- 
thorpe found that his batteries at St. Simon's had 
become useless, he spiked the guns, destroyed the 
stores, and fell back upon his head-quarters at 
Frederica. So great was the disparity of the 
opposing forces, that he plainly saw his only 
hope of safety lay in acting upon the defensive. 
He kept scouting parties in every direction, to 



72 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



watch and annoy the enemy, while his main body 
made the fortifications as strong as circumstances 
would permit. His little army did not exceed seven 
hundred men. To animate them with a spirit of 
perseverance, he exposed himself to the same 
hardships and fatigues as were experienced by 
the common soldiers. 

In the mean time, the Spaniards had made 
several attempts to pierce the woods, with a view 
to attack the fort, but met with such opposition 
from the deep morasses and dark thickets, de- 
fended by the Indians and Highlanders, that 
every effort failed with considerable loss. 

On the Tth of July, the general was warned 
that a body of the enemy had approached within 
two miles of Frederica ; he ordered four platoons 
of the regiment to follow him immediately, and 
marched with some rangers, Highlanders, and In- 
dians, who were then under arms, and attacked 
and defeated the enemy, who lost one hundred 
and twenty-nine men in killed and prisoners. 
After heading the pursuit two miles, Oglethorpe 
halted until a reinforcement came up. He posted 
them with the Highlanders in a wood, with a 
large savanna in front, over which the Spaniards 
must pass on their way to Frederica, and then 
hastened to the fort to have an additional force 
in readiness, in case of emergency. By the time 
this arrangement was completed, three hundred 
of the enemy's best troops attacked the party he 



THE SPANIARDS DEFEATED. 73 



had left. Oglethorpe hurried to their relief, 
rallied three platoons which had retreated in dis- 
order, and led them to the assistance of the gal- 
lant Highlanders, and the only platoon which had 
nobly remained firm. A¥hen he reached them 
the conflict was over, and the enemy in retreat. 
In this action, Don Antonio de Barba was mor- 
tally wounded, and several of the enemy killed 
and taken. In these two actions and the pre- 
vious skirmishes, the Spaniards acknowledged a 
loss of two hundred and sixty-nine men. 

On the 12th, an English prisoner escaped from 
the Spaniards, and brought advice to Oglethorpe 
of a difference subsisting between the troops from 
Cuba and those from St. Augustine ; and that in 
consequence of this misunderstanding, they en- 
camped in separate places. Oglethorpe instantly 
decided to attempt a surprise upon one of the en- 
campments. With the advantage of his knowledge 
of the woods, he marched out in the night, with 
three hundred regular troops, the Highland com- 
pany, rangers, and Indians. Having advanced 
within two miles of the enemy's camp, he halted, 
and set forward with a small party to reconnoitre 
their position. While most desirous of conceal- 
ing his approach, a Frenchman from his party 
fired his musket, deserted to the enemy, and gave 
the alarm. Oglethorpe, finding his design thus 
defeated, thought it prudent to return to Frede- 
rica. Apprehensive that the traitor would dis- 

r 



74 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



cover his weakness to the enemy, he resorted to 
a stratagem, with the hope of shaking the confi- 
dence of the Spaniards in the deserter's story. 
For this purpose he wrote a letter, and addressed 
it to the Frenchman, in which he desired him to 
acquaint the Spaniards of the defenceless condi- 
tion of Frederica, and how easy and practicable 
it would be to cut him and his small garrison to 
pieces. lie requested the deserter to use every 
art in urging them forward to an attack, and to 
assure them of success. If he could not prevail 
upon them to make the attempt, he was to use 
every influential argument to detain them two or 
three days longer upon the island, as within that 
time he (Oglethorpe) would receive a reinforce- 
ment of two thousand land forces, and six British 
ships of war. He closed this letter by cautioning 
the renegade not to subject himself to suspicion, 
reminding him of the great reward he was to re- 
ceive in the event of success attending the plan, 
and urging the necessity of profound silence re- 
specting Admiral Vernon's intentions against St. 
Augustine. This letter was given by Oglethorpe 
to one of the Spanish prisoners, who, for the sake 
of liberty and a small reward, promised to deliver 
it to the French deserter privately, and conceal 
the circumstance from every other person. With 
these injunctions, the soldier was liberated, and, 
as Oglethorpe wished and expected, the letter 
was delivered to the Spanish commander-in-chief. 



Oglethorpe's stratagem. 75 



The conjectures and speculations occasioned by 
this letter were various ; and the Spanish com- 
mandant was not a little perplexed to know what 
inference he ought to draw from it. 

In the first place, he ordered the supposed spy 
to be placed in irons to prevent his escape, and 
then called a council of war to consider what was 
most proper to be done, in consequence of intel- 
ligence so puzzling and alarming. Some officers 
were of opinion that the letter was intended as a 
deception to prevent them from attacking Frede- 
rica ; others thought that the circumstances men- 
tioned in it wore such an appearance of truth, 
that there were good grounds to believe that the 
English general wished them to take place, and, 
therefore, gave their voice for consulting the 
safety of St. Augustine, and relinquishing a plan 
of conquest attended with so many difficulties, and 
putting to hazard the loss of both army and 
fleet, and perhaps the whole province of East 
Florida. 

While the Spanish officers were employed in 
these embarrassing deliberations, three vessels of 
small force, which the Governor of Carolina had 
sent out to watch the motions of the enemy, ap- 
peared at some distance on the coast. This, cor- 
responding with part of Oglethorpe's letter, in- 
duced the Spanish commander to give credit to 
its entire contents. It was, therefore, determined 
to attack Oglethorpe at his stronghold at Frede- 



76 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



rica before the expected reinforcement should 
arrive ; and accordingly the whole Spanish army 
"vvas put in motion. 

Captain Noble Jones, with a detachment of 
regulars and Indians, being out on a scouting 
party, fell in w^ith a small detachment of the 
enemy's advance, who were surprised and made 
prisoners, not deeming themselves so far in front 
of the main army. From these prisoners infor- 
mation was received that the whole Spanish army 
was advancing : this was immediately communi- 
cated by an Indian runner to the general, who 
detached Captain Dunbar with a company of 
grenadiers, to join the regulars and Indians, with 
orders to harass the enemy on their approach. 
These detachments, having formed a junction, ob- 
served at a distance the Spanish army on the 
march ; and, taking a favourable position near a 
marsh, formed an ambuscade. 

The enemy fortunately halted within a hun- 
dred paces of this position, stacked their arms, 
made fires, and were preparing their kettles for 
cooking, when a horse observed some of the party 
in ambuscade, and frightened at the uniform of 
the regulars, began to snort and gave the alarm. 
The Spaniards ran to their arms, but were shot 
down in great numbers by Oglethorpe's detach- 
ment, who continued invisible to the enemy. 
After repeated attempts to form, in which some 
of their principal officers fell, they fled with the 



BLOODY MARSH. 7T 



utmost precipitation, leaving their camp equipage 
on the field, and never halted until they had got 
under cover of the guns of their battery and 
ships. General Oglethorpe had detached Major 
Horton with a reinforcement, who arrived only 
in time to join in the pursuit. 

So complete was the surprise of the enemy, 
that many fled without their arms ; others in a 
rapid retreat, discharged their muskets over their 
shoulders at their pursuers ; and many were 
killed by the loaded arms which were left on the 
ground. Generally the Spaniards fired so much 
at random that the trees were pruned by the balls 
from their muskets. Their loss in killed, wounded, 
and prisoners, was estimated at five hundred. The 
loss in Oglethorpe's detachment was very incon- 
siderable. From the signal victory obtained over 
the enemy and the great slaughter among the 
Spanish troops, the scene of action just described 
has ever since been denominated the '<■ Bloody 
Harsh." On the 14th, the Spaniards burned 
all the works and houses on the south end of St. 
Simon's and Jekyl Islands. They then sailed to 
the southward, with Oglethorpe following close 
on their rear. At daylight, twenty-eight sail of 
the Spanish line appeared off Fort William, which 
was commanded by Ensign Stuart. Fourteen of 
these vessels came into the harbour, and de- 
manded a surrender of the garrison : Stuart re- 
plied, that it should not be surrendered, nor 



78 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



could it be taken. They attacked the works 
from their galleys and other vessels, and attempted 
to land, but were repulsed by a small party of 
rangers who had arrived by a forced march down 
the island. Stuart, with only sixty men, defended 
the fort with such bravery, that after an assault 
of three hours, the enemy discovered the approach 
of Oglethorpe, and put to sea with considerable 
loss. Two galleys were disabled and abandoned, 
and the Governor of St. Augustine proceeded 
with his troops by the inland passage. Ensign 
Stuart was rewarded, by promotion, for the bra- 
very of his defence. 

Thus was the province of Georgia delivered, 
when brought to the very brink of destruction 
by a formidable enemy. Don Manuel de Mon- 
teano had been fifteen days on the small island 
of St. Simon's, without gaining the least advan- 
tage over a handful of men ; and in the several 
skirmishes, had lost a considerable numiber of his 
best troops ; while Oglethorpe's loss was very 
inconsiderable. 

When the Spanish troops returned to the Ha- 
vana, their commander was arrested and tried 
by a court-martial, found guilty, and dismissed 
with disgrace, for his improper conduct on an 
expedition, the result of which proved so shame- 
ful and inglorious to the Spanish arms. 

The Carolinians, surprised at a success so tri- 
umphant, achieved without their assistance, were 



CALUMNIOUS CHARGES. 79 



Still divided in their opinions respecting the mili- 
tary character of Oglethorpe. The more magna- 
nimous among them acknowledged his signal 
services, and poured out the highest encomiums 
on his courage and military skill. There were 
others, however, who still continued to censure 
his conduct and detract from his merit. The 
authorities of South Carolina neither praised nor 
blamed. The Governors of New York, New Jer- 
sey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North 
Carolina, congratulated the general in the warm- 
est terms, and offered their humble thanks to the 
Supreme Governor of the universe for placing 
the fate of the southern colonies under the direc- 
tion of one so well qualified for the important 
task. 

But in the midst of his glorious achievements, 
envy and detraction busied themselves with de- 
faming his honour and integrity. Lieutenant- 
colonel Cook exhibited nineteen charges against 
him, and named several officers and citizens in 
Georgia, who were to be summoned to prove his 
guilt. Indignant at the calumnious misrepresen- 
tations of his accuser, Oglethorpe embarked for 
England, and reached there in 1743. A general 
court-martial was ordered for his trial ; several 
days were spent in examining the various articles 
of complaint lodged against him, and, after the 
most mature deliberation, the court adjudged th^ 
charges to be false, malicious, and groundless; 



80 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



and his honourable acquittal was reported to the 
king. Lieutenant-colonel Cook was dismissed 
from the service in consequence, and declared 
incapable of serving his majesty in any military 
capacity whatever. Oglethorpe never afterward 
returned to Georgia ; but upon all occasions, zeal- 
ously exerted himself in behalf of its prosperity 
and improvement. 

From its first settlement, the colony had been 
under a military government, executed by the 
general and such ofiicers as he chose to appoint. 
But now the trustees thought proper to establish 
a sort of civil government, and committed the 
charge of it to a president and four councillors 
or assistants, who were to act agreeably to the 
instructions they should receive from the trus- 
tees ; and to be accountable to them for their 
public conduct. Under these new regulations, 
William Stephens received the appointment of 
president. 



SLAVERY INTRODUCED. 81 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Slavery introduced — Daring scheme of Thomas Bosomworth — • 
Malatche made Emperor of the Creeks — Signs a deed to Mary 
Bosomworth for the Indian reserved lands — Mary assumes 
the title of empress — She threatens destruction to the colony 
' — March of the Creeks — The president prepares for defence 
— The Indians reach Savannah — Bosomworth and Mary 
seized and confined. 

After the signal defeat of the Spaniards, the 
affairs of the province passed on without anj im- 
portant occurrences for several years. The cul- 
tivation of the vine and mulberry, bemg found 
unprofitable, was neglected, although the trustees 
made strenuous efforts to encourage the manu- 
facture of silk by offers of bounty for its pro- 
duction. 

After bearing with the unceasing complaints 
of the colonists for a long time, the restrictions 
placed upon the introduction of slaves were par- 
tially abandoned ; and, although slavery had not 
yet been formally introduced into the province, 
the planters were tacitly permitted to hire negro 
servants in Carolina. Finding that this plan of 
evading the law succeeded, negroes were hired 
for a hundred years, or during life, and a sum 
equal to the value of the slave paid in advance ; 



82 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 

the former owner in Carolina binding himself to 
exhibit his claim whenever the Georgian authori- 
ties should interfere. Finally, purchases were 
openly made in Savannah; some seizures took 
place, but the magistrates and the courts for the 
most part joined in evading the operation of the 
law. Matters had now reached a crisis. The 
trustees, finding that any further resistance to 
the introduction of slavery would endanger the 
peace and prosperity of the colony, yielded to 
the publicly expressed wishes of a majority of 
the people, and in the year 1747 all previous 
restraints upon the purchase of negroes were 
removed. In December of this year, a daring 
scheme of self-aggrandizement was devised by a 
clergyman named Bosomworth, which came very 
nearly involving the destruction of the whole 
province. 

It will be recollected that at the first settle- 
ment of the colony, Oglethorpe had employed a 
half-breed woman, called Mary Musgrove, as an 
interpreter between himself and the Creeks. By 
the generosity of Oglethorpe, who had allowed 
her a liberal salary for her services, she obtained 
great influence over the minds of the Indians. 
After the death of her first husband. Bosom- 
worth, who had been a chaplain in Oglethorpe's 
regiment, married this woman, and taking advan- 
tage of the respect in which she was held by the 
neighbouring tribes, conceived a plan of acquiring, 



bosomworth's scheme. 83 



through her means, a fortune equal to any in 
America. 

An Indian king, by the name of Malatche, of 
an age and standing in the Creek nation well 
suited to Bosomworth's purpose, was present at 
Frederica with sixteen others, who called them- 
selves kings and chiefs of the different towns. 
While at Frederica, Bosomworth suggested to 
Malatche the idea of having himself crowned by 
his companions. Accordingly, a paper was drawn 
up, acknowledging Malatche Opiya Meco to be 
the rightful natural prince and emperor of the 
dominions of the Creek nation ; vesting him with 
power to declare war, make laws, frame treaties, 
convey lands, and transact all affairs relating to 
the nation ; the chiefs binding themselves, on the 
part of their several towns, to abide by and fulfil 
all his contracts and engagements. 

This paper having been duly signed and wit- 
nessed, Bosomworth obtained a deed in the name 
of Mary, his wife, from Malatche for all the islands 
and lands reserved by the Indians in their first 
treaty with Oglethorpe. 

For^ two years after the making of this deed, 
Bosomworth remained silently waiting an oppor- 
tunity to profit by it. In 1749, he determined 
that his wife should assert her claim to the Indian 
reservations of the islands of Sapelo, Ossabaw, 
and St. Catharine's. To render this claim still 
Stronger, he encouraged his wife into the pretence 



84 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



of being the eldest sister of Malatclie, and of 
having descended in a maternal line from an 
Indian king, who held from nature the "whole 
territory of the Creek. 

Accordingly, Mary assumed the title of an in- 
dependent empress, and disavowed all allegiance 
or subjection to the King of Great Britain, 
otherwise than by way of treaty and alliance. She 
summoned a meeting of all the Creeks, to whom 
she set forth the justice of her claim, and the 
great injury they had sustained by the loss of 
their territories, and urged them to a defence of 
their rights by force of arms. 

The Indians, thus artfully addressed, rose up, 
and pledged themselves, to a man, to stand by 
her to the last drop of their blood, in defence of 
her royal person and their lands. Thus sup- 
ported by the whole force of the tribe, Queen 
Mary, escorted by a large body of her savage 
subjects, set out for Savannah, to demand from 
the president and council a formal acknowledg- 
ment of her rights in the province. 

President Stephens and his council, alarmed 
at her high pretensions and bold threats, and 
sensible of her influence with the Indians, from 
her having been made a woman of consequence 
as an interpreter, were not a little embarrassed 
as to what steps to take for the public safety. 
They thought it best to use soft and healing 
measures until an opportunity might offer of 



INDIANS ENTER SAVANNAH. 85 



privately laying hold of her and shipping her off 
to England. 

In the mean time, the militia were ordered to 
hold themselves in readiness to march to Savan- 
nah, at the shortest notice. The town was put 
in the best possible state of defence, but its whole 
force amounted to only one hundred and seventy 
men able to bear arms. A message was sent to 
Mary, while she was yet several miles distant 
from Savannah at the head of her mighty host, 
to know whether she was serious in such wild 
pretensions, and try the influence of persuasion 
to induce her to dismiss her followers and drop 
her audacious design; but finding her inflexible 
and resolute, the president resolved to put on a 
bold countenance, and receive the savages with 
firmness and resolution. 

The militia were ordered under arms to over- 
awe them as much as possible ; and as the Indians 
entered the town. Captain Noble Jones, at the 
head of a troop of horse, stopped them, and de- 
manded whether their visit was with hostile or 
friendly intentions ; but receiving no satisfactory 
answer, he required them to ground their arms, 
declaring that he had orders not to suffer one 
armed Indian to set foot in the town, and that 
he was determined to enforce the orders at the 
risk of his own life and that of his troops. 

The savages with great reluctance submitted ; 
and, accordingly, Thomas Bosomworth, in his 



86 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 

canonical robes, with his queen by his side, fol- 
lowed by the kings and chiefs according to rank, 
marched into the town on the 20th of July, 
making a most formidable appearance. 

The inhabitants were struck with terror at the 
sight of this ferocious tribe of savages. When 
they advanced to the parade, they found the 
militia drawn up under arms to receive them, by 
whom they were saluted with fifteen cannon, and 
conducted to the president's house. Bosomworth 
being ordered to withdraw, the Indian chiefs in 
a friendly manner were required to declare their 
intention in paying this visit in so large a body, 
without being sent for by any person in authority. 
The warriors, as they had been instructed, an- 
swered that Mary was to speak for them, and 
that they would abide by whatever she said ; that 
they had heard that she was to be sent like a 
captive over the great waters, and they were 
come to know on what account they were to lose 
their queen ; that they intended no harm, and 
begged that their arms might be restored to them ; 
and after consulting with Bosomworth and his 
wife, they would return and amicably settle all 
public affairs. To please them, their guns were 
accordingly returned, but strict orders were issued 
to allow them no ammunition, until the council 
should see more clearly into their dark designs. 

On the day following, the Indians, having had 
some private conferences with Mary, were ob- 



BOSOMWORTH AND MARY CONFINED. 87 



served to march in a tumultuous manner through 
the streets, evidencing a hostile temper, and ap- 
parently determined on mischief. All the men 
being obliged to mount guard, the women and 
children were terrified and afraid to remain in 
the houses by themselves, expecting every moment 
to be murdered and scalped. During this con- 
fusion, a false rumour was circulated, that they 
had cut off President Stephens's head with a 
tomahawk, which so exasperated the inhabitants 
that it was with difiiculty the officers could re- 
strain the troops from firing upon the savages : 
perhaps the exercise of the greatest prudence 
was never more requisite to save the town from 
being deluged with blood. Orders were given 
to lay hold of Bosomworth, to whom it was in- 
sinuated that he was marked as the first victim 
of vengeance in case of extremities ; and he was 
carried out of the way and closely confined, 
upon w^liich Mary, his beloved queen, became 
outrageous and frantic, and threatened the 
thunder of her vengeance against the magis- 
trates and the whole colony. She ordered all 
white persons to depart immediately from her 
territories, and at their peril to refuse ; she cursed 
Oglethorpe and his fraudulent treaties, and furi- 
ously stamping her foot upon the earth, swore 
that the whole globe should know that the ground 
she stood upon was her own. To prevent any 
ascendency by bribes over the chiefs and war- 



88 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



riors, she kept the leading men constantly un- 
der her eye, and would not suffer them to 
utter a sentence on public affairs, but in her pre- 
sence. 

The president, finding that no peaceable agree- 
ment could be made with the Indians while under 
the baleful influence of their pretended queen, 
privately laid hold of her, and put her with her 
husband in confinement. This step was found 
necessary, before any reasonable terms of nego- 
ciation would be heard. 

Having secured the royal family, who were un- 
questionably the promoters of the conspiracy, the 
president employed men acquainted with the In- 
dian tongue to entertain the warriors in the most 
friendly and hospitable manner, and directed that 
explanations should be made to them of the 
wicked designs of Bosomworth and his wife. Ac- 
cordingly a feast was prepared for all the chiefs 
and leading warriors, at which they were in- 
formed that Bosomworth had involved himself in 
debts which he was unable to pay, and that he 
wanted not only their lands, but a large share of 
the king's presents, which had been sent over for 
the chiefs and warriors ; that his object was to 
satisfy his creditors in Carolina at their expense ; 
that the king's presents were only intended for 
the Indians, as a compensation for their useful 
services and firm attachment to him during the 
war against their common enemy ; and that the 



A TALK WITH THE INDIANS. 89 



lands adjoining the town were reserved for tliem to 
encamp upon when they should come to visit their 
beloved friends in Savannah, and the three mari- 
time . islands to fish and hunt upon when they 
should come to bathe in the salt waters : that 
neither Mary nor her husband had any right to 
those lands, but that they were the common pro- 
perty of the whole nation : that the great King 
George had ordered the president to defend their 
right to them, and expected that all his subjects, 
both white and red, would live together like breth- 
ren, and that the great king would suffer no one 
to molest or injure them ; and had ordered these 
words to be left on record, that they might not be 
forgotten by their descendants, when they were 
dead and gone. 

This policy produced a temporary effect, and 
many of the chiefs, being convinced that Bosom- 
worth had deceived them, declared the}^ would no 
longer be governed by his advice : even Malatche, 
the leader of the lower Creeks, and the pretended 
relation of Mary, seemed satisfied, and was not a 
little pleased to hear that the king had sent them 
some valuable presents. Being asked why he 
acknowledged Mary as the empress of the great 
nation of the Creeks, and resigned his power and 
possessions to a despicable old woman, while he 
was universally recognised as the great chief of 
the nation, and that too at the very time when 
the president and council were to give him many 



90 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



rich clothes and medals for his services, — he re- 
plied, that the whole nation acknowledged her as 
their queen, and none could distribute the royal 
presents but herself, or one of her family, as had 
been done heretofore. 

The president, by this answer, saw more clearly 
the design of Bosomworth's family. To lessen 
their influence and consequence, and show the 
Indians that he had power to divide the royal 
bounty among the chiefs, he determined to take 
the task upon himself, and immediately dismiss 
them, on account of the growing expenses of the 
colony, and the hardships the people underwent 
in keeping guard night and day for the defence 
of the town. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Fickleness of Malatclie — His speech — The president's reply 
— Bosomworth and Mary threaten vengeance against the 
colony — The Indians prevailed on to return home — Bosom- 
worth and Mary released — Bosomworth reasserts his claims 
by a suit at law — Decision of the EngUsh Courts — Another 
suit instituted. 

In the mean time, Malatche, whom the Indians 
compared to the wind, because of his fickle and 
variable temper, having at his own request ob- 
tained admission to Bosomworth and his wife, was 
again drawn over to support their chimerical 
claims, While the Indians were gathered to- 



malatche's speech. 91 



getlier to receive their respective shares of the 
royal bounty, he stood up in the midst of them 
with a frowning countenance, and in violent agi- 
tation delivered a speech fraught with the most 
dangerous insinuations and threats. He declared 
that Mary possessed the country before General 
Oglethorpe ; that all the lands belonged to her 
as queen and head of the Creeks ; that it was by 
her consent that Englishmen were at first permit- 
ted to settle on them ; that they still held the 
land as her tenants at will ; that her words were 
the voice of the whole nation, consisting of three 
thousand warriors, every man of whom would 
raise the hatchet in defence of her rightful claim. 
Then pulling a paper out of his pocket, he de- 
livered it to the president in confirmation of what 
he had said. This was evidently the production 
of Bosomworth, and served to discover in the 
plainest manner his ambitious views and wicked 
intrigues. The preamble was filled with the 
names of Indians, called kings of all the towns in 
the upper and lower Creeks, none of whom, how- 
ever, were present except two. The substance 
of the paper corresponded with Malatche's speech, 
styling Mary the rightful princess of the whole 
nation, invested with full power and authority to 
settle and finally determine all public afi'airs and 
causes relative to land and other things, with King 
George and his men on both sides of the sea ; and 
asserting that whatever should be done by her, 



92 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



they would abide by as if done by themselves. 
Bosomworth probably did not intend that this 
paper should have been shown, nor was Malatche 
aware of the consequences of putting it in the 
hands of the president. 

After reading this paper in council, the mem- 
bers were struck with astonishment ; and Malat- 
che, perceiving their uneasiness, begged to have 
it again, declaring that he did not know it was a 
bad talk, and promising that he would imme- 
diately return it to the person from whom he 
had received it. To remove all impressions made 
on the minds of the Indians by Malatche's speech, 
and convince them of the deceitful and danger- 
ous tendency of this confederacy, into which 
Bosomworth and his wife had betrayed them, 
had now become a matter of the highest conse- 
quence : happy was it for the province, that this, 
though difficult, was practicable. As ignorant 
savages were easily misled on the one side, it 
was practicable to convince them of their error 
on the other. Accordingly, having gathered the 
Indians together, the president determined to 
adopt a bold and decided tone, and addressed them 
with the following speech : — 

i' Friends and brothers : — "When Mr. Ogle- 
thorpe and his people first arrived in Georgia, 
they found Mary, then the wife of John Mus- 
grove, living in a small hut at Yamacraw ; he 
had a license from the Governor of South Caro- 



A TALK WITH THE INDIANS. 93 



lina to trade with the Indians ; she then ap- 
peared to be in a poor ragged condition, and was 
neglected and despised by the Creeks ; but Gene- 
ral Oglethorpe, finding that she could speak both 
the English and Creek languages, employed her 
as an interpreter, richly clothed her, and made 
her a woman of the consequence she now ap- 
pears; the people of Georgia always respected 
her until she married Bosomworth, but from that 
time she has proved a liar and a deceiver. In 
fact, she was no relation of Malatche, but the 
daughter of an Indian woman of no note, and a 
white man. General Oglethorpe did not treat 
with her for the lands of Georgia, for she had 
none ; but with the old and wise leaders of the 
Creek nation, who voluntarily surrendered their 
territories to the king; the Indians at that time 
having much waste land, which was useless to 
themselves, parted with a share of it to their 
friends, and were glad that white people had set- 
tled among them to supply their wants. He told 
them that the present discontents of the Creeks 
had been artfully infused into them by Mary, at 
the instigation of her husband ; that he demanded 
a third part of the royal bounty, in order to rob 
the naked Indians of their right; that he had 
quarrelled with the president and council of 
Georgia, for refusing to answer his exorbitant 
demands, and therefore had filled the heads of 
the Indians with wild fancies and groundless 



94 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



jealousies, in order to ferment mischief, and in- 
duce them to break their alliance with their best 
friends, who alone were able to supply their 
wants and defend them against their enemies. '^ 

Here the Indians desired him to stop, and put 
an end to the contest, declaring that their eyes 
were now opened, and that they saw through the 
insidious design of Bosomworth ; but though he 
desired to break the chain of friendship, they 
were determined to hold it fast and disappoint 
him ; and begged, therefore, that all might smoke 
the pipe of peace. Accordingly, pipes and rum 
were brought, and they joined hand in hand, 
drank and smoked together in friendship, every 
one wishing that their hearts might be united in 
like manner as their hands. The royal presents, 
except ammunition, with w^hich it was judged im- 
prudent to trust them, until they w^ere some dis- 
tance from town, were brought and distributed 
among them ; the most disaffected and influential 
received the largest presents : even Malatche 
himself seemed fully satisfied with his share, and 
the savages in general, perceiving the poverty 
and insignificancy of Bosomworth and his wife, 
and their total inability to supply their wants, 
apparently determined to break off all connection 
with them. 

While the president and council were congra- 
tulating themselves on the re-establishment of 
friendly intercourse with the Creeks, Mary^ 



EXCITING SCENE. 95 

drunk with liquor, and disappointed in her royal 
views, rushed in among them like a fury, and 
told the president that these were her people, 
that he had no business with them, and that he 
should soon be convinced of it to his cost. The 
president calmly advised her to retire to her lodg- 
ings and forbear to poison the minds of the In- 
dians, otherwise he would order her again into 
close confinement. Upon this, she turned about 
to Malatche in great rage, and repeated, with 
some ill-natured comments, what the president 
had said. Malatche started from his seat, laid 
hold of his arms, and, calling upon the rest to 
follow his example, dared any man to touch the 
queen. 

The whole house was filled in a moment with 
tumult and uproar. Every Indian having his 
tomahawk in his hand, the president and council 
expected nothing but instant death. During 
this confusion. Captain Jones, who commanded 
the guard, very seasonably interposed, and 
ordered the Indians immediately to surrender 
their arms. Such courage was not the onlv re- 
quisite to overawe them ; great prudence was, at 
the same time, necessary, to avoid coming to 
extremities. With reluctance the Indians sub- 
mitted, and Mary was conveyed to a private 
room, where a guard was placed over her, and 
all further communication with the Indians de- 
nied to her during their stay in Savannah. Her 



96 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



husband was sent for, in order to reason with 
him and convince him of the folly of his chi- 
merical pretensions, and of the dangerous conse- 
quences which might result from his persisting in 
them ; but no sooner did he appear before the 
president and the council, than he became out- 
rageously abusive, and in defiance of every argu- 
ment w^hich was used to persuade him to submis- 
sion, he remained contumacious, and protested 
he would stand forth in vindication of his wife's 
right to the last extremity, and that the province 
of Georgia should soon feel the weight of her 
power and vengeance. 

Such conduct justly merited a course which it 
would have been impolitic in the council to pur- 
sue ; but finding that fair means were fruitless 
and ineifectual, they determined to remove him 
out of the way of the Indians until they were 
gone, and then humble him by force. 

After having secured the two leaders, it only 
remained to persuade the Indians to leave the 
town and return to their homes. Captain Ellick, 
a young warrior, w^ho had distinguished himself 
in discovering to his tribe the base intrigues of 
Bosomworth, being afraid to accompany Ma- 
latche and his followers, consulted his safety by 
setting out among the first. The rest followed 
him in different parties, and the inhabitants, 
tired out with constant duty, and harassed with 
frequent alarms, were at length happily relieved. 



BOSOMWORTH PARDONED. 97 



It affords a striking evidence of the weakness 
of the colonists, and their fear of Indian retalia- 
tion, when we relate, that after passing through this 
terrible ordeal, the provincial authorities did not 
dare to molest either Bosomworth or his wife. 
It is true, that the reasons given for their pardon 
were said to have been in consideration of the 
intercession of Adam Bosomworth, a brother of 
the culprit, and a letter from Bosomworth him- 
self, acknowledging the title of his wife to be 
groundless, and craving forgiveness on the plea 
of her present remorse and past services to the 
province. But the real cause of their not being 
severely dealt with was, undoubtedly, a dread of 
the consequences that might ensue. 

In 1751, the restless intriguer revived his 
claim. It was litigated in the English courts for 
many years, and at length partially decided in 
his favour ; but one Levy claiming a moiety of 
the lands by previous purchase of Bosomworth, 
a new suit was instituted, which, from Levy dying 
not long after, has never been legally settled. 



98 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



CHAPTER X. 

Condition of the pro\'ince — Hostile attitude of the Cherokees 
— Trustees resign their charter — Georgia formed into a royal 
government — Quarrel between the Virginians and Cherokees 
— Treachery of Occonostota — Captain Coytmore killed — • 
Indian hostages massacred^ — The savages desolate the fron- 
tiers — Colonel Montgomery sent against them — Defeats 
them and burns all the lower towns — Returns to Fort Prince 
George — Enters the nation again — Bloody battle near Etchoe 
town — Returns to Fort Prince George — Siege and capitula- 
lation of Fort Loudon — Treacliery of the savages — Attakul- 
lakulla rescues Captain Stewart — Hostilities encouraged by 
the French^ — Grant marches against the Indians, and de- 
feats them — Treaty of peace concluded. 

The condition of the province of Georgia in 
1751 was indeed deplorable. Eighteen years 
had now passed off, and the colonists had not, in 
any one year, furnished subsistence enough for 
its own consumption. Commerce had barely 
commenced ; numbers, in disgust at the unpro- 
mising state of things, had left the country, and 
settled in Carolina ; the white servants fled 
from their masters and took refuge in Carolina, 
and the country was rapidly dwindling into in- 
significance. 

In this enfeebled condition, the Cherokee In- 
dians assumed a hostile attitude. At the first 
signal of alarm, a number of Quakers, who 
had settled, during the preceding winter, on a 



EEYNOLDS APPOINTED GOVERNOR. 99 



body of land west of Augusta, abandoned tbeir 
plantations and fled the country. Other planters 
also sought protection in the towns, and the pro- 
vince was placed in the best state of defence 
which its weakened condition admitted. The 
difiiculty, however, blew over for a time. 

The trustees, finding that the province did not 
flourish under their patronage, and wearied out 
with the complaints and murmurs of the people, 
for whose benefit they had devoted so much time 
and expended so much money, resigned their 
charter on the 20th of June, 1752, and the pro- 
vince was formed into a royal government. 

For two years after the resignation of the 
trustees, the province of Georgia remained in an 
unprotected condition. On the 1st of October, 
1754, the king appointed John Reynolds, an offi- 
cer in the navy, Governor of Georgia, and granted 
legislative powers similar to those of the other 
royal governments in America. Several years 
elapsed, however, before Georgia began to pros- 
per. 

During the year 1759, war between France 
and Great Britain having been previously de- 
clared. General Abercrombie, commanding the 
British forces in America, threatened the French 
stronghold on the Ohio, westward of Virginia. 
To assist in carrying out his designs, he invited 
the Cherokees to join him in the capture of Fort 
Duquesne. The French garrison fled to the 

L.wiC. 



100 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



south, and taking advantage of an unfortunate 
quarrel between the Virginians and Cherokees, 
were successful in detaching the latter from 
the British cause, and exciting them into a 
bloody and remorseless war against their former 
friends. 

The occasion which gave rise to the feud was 
this. A number of Indians returning home 
through the back parts of Virginia, having lost 
their own horses in the expedition against Du- 
quesne, caught such as came in their way ; never 
imagining that they belonged to any individual 
in the province. The Virginians, resenting the 
injury, followed the savages, killed fourteen of 
them, and took several prisoners. The Chero- 
kees, naturally indignant at such conduct from 
their allies, flew immediately to arms, and mur- 
dered and scalped a number of people on the 
frontiers. 

Captain Coytmore, commanding Fort Prince 
George, on the bank of Savannah River, near the 
Cherokee town of Keowee, despatched messengers 
to the Governors of Georgia and South Carolina, 
warning them of the dangers which were threat- 
ening. Governor Lyttleton immediately hastened 
to the fort, with a body of militia, and succeeded 
in forming a treaty of peace with six of the chiefs 
on the 26th of December, 1759. By this treaty, 
thirty-two Indian warriors were left in the fort 
as hostages for the fulfilment of certain stipulated 



occonostota's stratagem. 101 



conditions. The small-pox breaking out in Lj^t- 
tleton's camp, he was obliged to return to 
Charleston. He had scarcely reached the seat 
of his government, when war again broke out. 

The Indians had contracted an invincible an- 
tipathy to Captain Coytmore, who commanded 
in the fort ; the imprisonment of their chiefs had 
converted their desire for peace into the bitterest 
rage for war. 

Occonostota, a chieftain of great influence, had 
become a most implacable and vindictive enemy: 
he collected a strong party of Cherokees, sur- 
rounded the fort, and compelled the garrison to 
keep within their works ; but finding that he 
could make no impression on them, nor oblige 
the commander to surrender, he contrived the 
following stratagem for the relief of his country- 
men, confined in it as hostages. As the under- 
wood was well calculated for his purposes, he 
placed a party of savages in a dark canebrake 
by the river-side, and then sent an Indian woman 
whom he knew to be always welcome at the fort, 
to inform the commander that he had somethinir 
of consequence to communicate to him, and would 
be glad to speak to him at the river-side. Cap- 
tain Coytmore imprudently consented, and with- 
out any suspicion of danger, walked to the river, 
accompanied by Lieutenants Bell and Foster. Oc- 
conostota appeared on the opposite side, and told 
them that he was going to Charleston to procure 

9-« 



102 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



the release of the hostages, and would be glad 
of a white man to accompany him as a safe- 
guard. The better to cover his design, he had a 
bridle in his hand, and added that he would go 
and hunt for a horse. The captain replied, that 
he should have a guard, and wished that he might 
find a horse, as the journey was very long, and 
performing it on foot would be fatiguing and 
tedious : upon which the Indian turned quickly, 
swung the bridle round his head as a signal to 
the savages placed in ambush, who instantly 
fired upon the officers, shot the captain dead upon 
the spot, and wounded the other two. In conse- 
quence of this, orders were given to put the hos- 
tages in irons, to prevent any further danger from 
them ; but, while the soldiers were attempting to 
execute these orders, the Indians , stabbed the 
first man who laid hold of them, and wounded 
two more, upon which the garrison, exasperated to 
the highest degree, fell upon the unfortunate hos- 
tages and butchered them in a manner too shock- 
ing to relate. 

There were few men in the Cherokee nation that 
did not lose a friend or relation by this massacre ; 
and, therefore, with one voice all declared for war. 
The consequences were dreadful. From the dif- 
ferent towns, large parties of warriors took the 
field, and commenced an indiscriminate slaughter 
among the defenceless families upon the fron- 
tiers, ravaging and burning wherever they went. 



COL. Montgomery's expedition. 103 



In this extremity, application for immediate 
assistance was made to the commander of the 
British forces in New York, and to the Governors 
of North Carolina and Virginia. 

Seven companies of rangers y^ere raised to 
patrol the frontiers, and prevent the savages 
from penetrating farther down the settlements, 
and the best possible preparations made for chas- 
tising the enemy as soon as the regulars should 
arrive from Nev.- York. 

In April, 1760, Colonel Montgomery landed in 
Carolina, with a battalion of Highlanders and four 
companies of Royal Scots. As the conquest of 
Canada was the grand object of this year's cam- 
paign in America, he had orders to strike a sud- 
den blow for the relief of the southern provinces, 
and return to head-quarters at Albany without 
loss of time. 

After having been joined at the Congarees by 
the military strength of South Carolina, he 
marched rapidly in the night with a party of 
his men to surprise the Indian town of Estatoe. 
On his way thither, he entered suddenly the town 
of Little Keowee, and put every Indian in it to 
the sword, sparing only the women and children. 
He next proceeded to Estatoe and burned it to 
ashes ; but the savages, with the exception of a 
few, had already fled. Sugartown, and every 
other settlement eastward of the Blue Kidge, 
shared the same fate. In the lower towns, one 



104 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



hundred Indians were killed or taken prisoners, 
and the rest driven to seek for shelter in the 
mountains. 

Having finished this business with the loss of 
only three or four men, he marched to the relief 
of Fort George, which had been invested for some 
time by the savages. Happily succeeding in his 
object, he despatched from thence messengers to 
the upper and lower Cherokee towns, offering to 
treat with them for peace. Finding the enemy 
still implacable, he determined to chastise them 
a little farther ; but in order to reach the savages, 
he was now compelled to penetrate a wilderness of 
dark thickets, rugged paths, and dangerous passes. 

On the 27th of June, when he had advanced 
within five miles of Etchoe, the nearest town of 
the middle settlements, he entered a low valley, 
covered so thick with brush that a soldier could 
scarcely see the length of his body, and in the 
middle of which there was a muddy river with 
steep clay banks. Through this dark place, 
where it was impossible for any number of men 
to act together, the army must necessarily march. 
Captain Morison, who commanded a company of 
rangers, was ordered to scour the thickets. They 
had scarcely entered it, when a number of savages 
sprang from their ambuscade, fired on them, 
killed the captain, and wounded several of his 
party ; upon which the light grenadiers were 
ordered to advance and charge the enemy. The 



i 



BATTLE NEAR ETCHOE. 105 

firing then became general, though the soldiers, 
for some time, could only discover the enemy by 
the report of their guns. 

Montgomery, finding that the Indians were in 
large force, ordered the Royal Scots to advance 
between the savages and a rising ground on the 
right, while the Highlanders marched to the left, 
to support the light infantry and grenadiers. 
Undismayed by the war-whoops and horrible 
yells of the savages, the troops pressed forward. 
At length, the Indians gave way, and in their 
retreat, falling in with the Royal Scots, suffered 
severely. As soon as Montgomery saw that the 
enemy continued to retreat as his troops ad- 
vanced, he gave orders for the line to face about 
and march directly for the town of Etchoe. The 
Indians immediately retreated behind the hill, 
and hastened to provide for the safety of their 
wives and children. 

In this desperate battle, Montgomery had 
twenty men killed, and seventy-six wounded. The 
loss of the enemy was never ascertained. 

This action, though it terminated in favour of 
the British, had so burdened them with wounded, 
that the commander judged it most prudent to 
return to Fort George. Accordingly, orders were 
given for a retreat, which was made with great 
regularity, although the enemy continued hover- 
ing around and annoying the troops whenever a 
favourable opportunity presented itself. 



106 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



In the mean time, the distant garrison of Fort 
Loudon, consisting of two hundred men, was re- 
duced to the dreadful alternative of perishing by 
hunger or submitting to the mercj of the enraged 
Cherokees. For a long time they had enter- 
tained hopes of being relieved bj the Virginians ; 
but the latter, foreseeing the difSculty of marching 
an army burdened w^ith pupplies, through a bar- 
ren wilderness, where the passes and thickets 
were ambuscaded by the enemy, had given over all 
thoughts of the attempt. Driven to despair, the 
men threatened to leave the fort and die at once 
by the hands of the savages, rather than perish 
slowly by famine. In this extremity, a council 
of war was called, when it was finally agreed to 
surrender the fort to the Cherokees on the best 
terms that could be obtained. For this purpose, 
Captain Stewart, an officer much beloved by all 
the Indians who remained in the British in- 
terest, was sent to Chote, one of the principal 
towns in that neighbourhood, where he obtained 
terms of capitulation. One of the conditions as- 
sented to by the Indians was, that the garrison, 
with a sufficiency of arms and ammunition, should 
be permitted to march unmolested to Fort Prince 
George or Virginia, under the escort of a number 
of Indians, by whom they were to be supplied 
with provisions during their march. 

Accordingly, the fort was given up on the 7th 
of August, 1760, and the garrison, accompanied 



TREACHERY OF OCCONOSTOTA. 107 



by Occonostota and several other Indians, set 
out on their way to Fort Prince George. At the 
first halting-place for the night their treacherous 
escort deserted them, and early next morning 
they were attacked by a large body of warriors, 
who killed Captain Demere, the commander, the 
other officers, and twenty-six men, and took the 
remainder as prisoners back to Fort Loudon. 

Among those who deplored this shameful breach 
of faith, was a noble-hearted chief by the name 
of Attakullakulla. No sooner did he learn that 
his friend Captain Stewart had escaped death, 
than he hastened to the fort and purchased him 
from his Indian captor, giving the latter his rifle, 
his clothes, and every thing he could command. 
Soon after this, he learned from Captain Stewart 
that Occonostota, meditating an attempt upon Fort 
Prince Gre(5rge, had determined that Stewart and 
a party of his companions should assist in the 
reduction of the fort ; and that in the event of 
Stewart's refusal to act against his own country- 
men, the prisoners should be burned one after 
another before his face. 

Upon hearing this savage resolve of Occonos- 
tota, the aged Attakullakulla resolved to save the 
life of Captain Stewart at once, and at every 
hazard. Accordingly, he signified to his people 
that he intended to go hunting for a few days, 
and carry his prisoner with him to eat venison : 
at the same time Captain Stewart went among his 



108 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



soldiers, and told them that thej could never ex- 
pect to be ransomed by their government if they 
gave the smallest assistance to the Indians against 
Fort Prince George. 

Having settled all matters, they set out on their 
journey, accompanied by the old warrior's wife, 
his brother and tAvo soldiers, who were the only 
persons of the garrison that knew how to convey 
great guns through the woods. For provisions 
they depended upon what they might kill by the 
way. The distance to the frontier settlements 
was great, and the utmost expedition necessary 
to prevent any surprise from Indians pursuing 
them. Nine days and nights did they travel 
through a dreary wilderness, shaping their course 
by the sun and moon for Virginia, and traversing 
tnany hills, valleys, and paths that had never been 
travelled before but by savages and wild beasts. 
On the tenth they arrived at Ilolston's river, 
where they fortunately fell in with a party of 
three hundred men sent out by Colonel Bird for 
the relief of such soldiers as might make their 
escape that way from Fort Loudon. On the 
fourteenth day the captain reached Colonel Bird's 
camp, on the frontiers of Virginia, where having 
loaded his faithful friend and his party with pre- 
sents and provisions, he sent him back to protect 
the unhappy prisoners until they should be ran- 
somed, and to exert his influence among the 
Cherokees for the restoration of peace. 



FRENCH MACHINATIONS. 109 



Having glutted tlieir vengeance, the Cherokees 
would have been disposed to listen to terms ©f 
accommodation, had not several French emissaries 
crept in among the upper towns, and fomented 
their ill-humour against the southern provinces. 

Louis Latinac, a French officer, was among 
these, and proved an indefatigable instigator to 
mischief. He furnished the Indians with arms 
and ammunition, and urged them to war, per- 
suading them that the English had nothing less 
in view than the extermination of their race from 
the face of the earth. At a great meeting of the 
nation, he pulled out his hatchet, and sticking it 
into a log, cried out, " Who is the man that will 
take this up for the King of France ?" Saloue, a 
young warrior of Estatoe, laid hold of it and cried 
out, ^' I am for war ! The spirits of our brothers 
who have been slain still call upon us to revenge 
their death — he is no better than a woman who 
refuses to follow me." Many others seized the 
tomahawk yet dyed with the stains of innocent 
blood, their hearts burning with ardour for the field. 

Canada being now reduced. General Amherst, 
responding to the repeated calls from the south 
for assistance, despatched Colonel Grant to 
Charleston, with a force of regulars amply suffi- 
cient to meet the emergency. In the spring, 
Grant took the field with two thousand six hun- 
dred men, and on the 27th of May, 1761, arrived 
at Fort Prince George. 

10 



110 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



On the 7tli of June, he marched from thence 
into the Cherokee country, carrying with him 
thirty days' provisions. On the 10th, various 
circumstances concurred to awaken suspicion, and 
orders were given for the first time to load and 
prepare for action, and the guards to march 
slowly forward, doubling their vigilance. 

As they frequently spied Indians around them, 
all were convinced that they should that day have 
an engagement. At length, having advanced 
near the place where Colonel Montgomery was 
attacked the preceding year, the Indian allies in 
the vanguard, about eight in the morning, ob- 
served a large body of Cherokees posted upon a 
hill on the right flank of the army, and imme- 
diately gave the alarm. The savages rushed 
down and commenced a heavy fire upon the ad- 
vanced guard, which being supported, the enemy 
was soon repulsed, and again formed upon the 
heights : under this hill the army was obliged to 
march a considerable distance. 

On the left was a river, from the opposite bank 
of which a large number of Indians fired briskly 
on the troops as they advanced. Colonel Grant 
ordered a party to march up the hill and drive 
the enemy from the heights, while the line faced 
about and gave their whole charge to the Indians 
who annoyed them from the side of the river. 
The engagement became general, and the savages 
seemed determined obstinately to dispute the 



THE CHEROKEES DEFEATED. Ill 



lower grounds, while those on the hill were dis- 
lodged only to return with redoubled ardour to the 
charge. The situation of the troops was in 
several respects unfavourable : fatigued by a 
tedious march in rainy weather ; surrounded with 
woods, so that they could not discern the enemy ; 
galled by the scattered fire of the savages, who 
when pressed always kept aloof, but rallied again 
and returned to the ground ; no sooner did the 
army gain an advantage over them on one quar- 
ter, than they appeared in force on another. 

While the attention of the commander was oc- 
cupied in driving the enemy from their lurking- 
place on the river-side, the rear was attacked, 
and so vigorous an effort made to take the flour 
and cattle, that he was obliged to order a party 
back to the relief of the rear-guard. From eight 
o'clock in the morning until eleven, the savages 
continued to keep up an irregular and incessant 
fire, sometimes from one place and sometimes 
from another, while the woods resounded with the 
war-whoop, and hideous shouts and yells, to in- 
timidate the troops. At length the Cherokees 
gave way, and being pursued for some time, scat- 
tered shots continued until about two o'clock, 
when the enemy disappeared. 

The loss sustained by the enemy in this action 
was not accurately ascertained. Colonel Grant's 
loss was between fifty and sixty killed and wound* 
ed. Orders were given not to bury the slain, but 



112 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



to sink them in the river, to prevent their being 
dug up from their graves and scalped. The army 
then proceeded to Etchoe, a large Indian town, 
which they reached about midnight, and next day 
reduced to ashes. All the other towns in the 
middle settlement, fourteen in number, shared 
the same fate. The corn, cattle, and other stores 
of the enemy were likewise destroyed, and the 
savages, with their families, were driven to seek 
shelter and subsistence among the barren moun- 
tains. 

After remaining thirty days in the heart of 
the Cherokee territories. Grant concluded to 
return to Fort Prince George, and await there, 
recruiting the strength of his men, until he saw 
whether the enemy were yet sufficiently humbled 
to sue for peace. 

To represent the situation of the savages, when 
reduced by this severe correction, would be diffi- 
cult. Even in time of peace, they were destitute 
of that foresight which, in a great measure, pro- 
vides for future events ; but in time of war, when 
their villages were destroyed, and their fields 
plundered, they were reduced to the extreme of 
want. Driven to barren mountains, the hunters 
being furnished with ammunition, might, indeed, 
obtain a scanty subsistence for themselves; but 
women, children, and old men, suffered greatly, 
when almost deprived of the means of supporting 
life. 



PEACE CONCLUDED. 113 



A few days after Colonel Grant's arrival at 
Fort Prince George, Attakullakulla, attended by 
several chiefs, came to his camp and expressed a 
desire for peace. Severely had they suffered for 
breaking their alliance with the English, and 
giving ear to the deceitful promises of the French. 
Convinced at last of the weakness and perfidy of 
the latter, who were neither able to assist them 
in time of war, nor to supply their wants in time 
of peace, they resolved to renounce all connection 
with them forever: accordingly, terms of peace 
were drawn up and proposed, which were no less 
honourable to Colonel Grant than advantageous 
to the southern provinces. 

The different articles being read and inter- 
preted, Attakullakulla agreed to them all, except- 
ing one, a cruel provision, by which it was de- 
manded, that four Cherokee Indians should be 
delivered up to Colonel Grant at Fort Prince 
George to be put to death in the front of his 
camp, or four green scalps be brought to him 
within twelve days. Attakullakulla declared that 
he had no such authority from his nation, that 
he thought the stipulation unreasonable and un- 
just, and that he could not voluntarily grant it. 
Colonel Grant wisely withdrew this offensive 
article ; after which peace was formally ratified, 
and their former friendship being renewed, all 
expressed a hope that it would last as long as the 
sun should shine and the rivers run. 

10* 



114 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



CHAPTER XL 

Wright a])pointcd governor — ^Prosperity of Georgia — Emigra- 
tion continues — Political aspect of the colony overclouded — 
Dr. Franklin appointed agent in England — The legislature 
define their rights and demand redress — 'Corresponding com- 
mittees nominated — Georgia charged with lukewarmness — 
Defence of the same — Republican spirit manifested — Powder 
magazine in Savannah broken open and its contents secreted 
— Cannon spiked on the battery — Delegates appointed to the 
Congress at Philadelphia — Munitions of war seized — Georgia 
declares her independence — Governor Wright imprisoned — ■ 
Escapes in the night — ^Troops ordered to be raised — Bill of 
credit issued — Nine merchant vessels burned or dismantled — 
Patriotism of the citizens of Savannah. 

On the 30th of October, 1760, Sir James 
Wright was appointed Governor of Georgia, and 
under his auspices the colony soon began to 
flourish. By the peace which was soon after 
made with Spain, the boundaries were extended 
to the Mississippi on the west, and on the south 
to latitude 31° and the St. Mary's lliver. East 
and West Florida were also given up by Spain, 
and though of themselves but little more than a 
barren waste, formed an important acquisition to 
Georgia. 

No province on the continent felt the happy 
effects of public security sooner than Georgia. 
The able and energetic exertions of the governor 
soon developed resources which had hitherto lain 



PROSPERITY OF GEORGIA. 115 



dormant. Commerce extended rapidly ; agricul- 
ture flourished. The planters, having the strength 
of Africa to assist them, laboured with success, 
and the lands every year yielded greater and 
greater increase. Many emigrations now took 
place from Carolina, and settlements were made 
about Sunbury and the Alatamaha. The plant- 
ers situated on the other side of the Savannah 
River found in the capital of Georgia an excel- 
lent market for their commodities ; and, at length, 
the shipments of produce from the province to 
Europe equalled, in proportion to its popula- 
tion, those of its more powerful and opulent 
neighbours. 

Nothing of any marked interest interfered with 
the progress of the colonies for several years. 
The brief but bloody wars of the Indian nations 
among themselves occasioned at times a tempo- 
rary alarm among the colonists residing on the 
frontiers, but by a cautious policy on the part of 
the governors, and the watchfulness of the Indian 
agents, all real danger was for the most part 
averted. 

Emigrants continued to flock into the country. 
In 1765, four additional parishes were laid off 
between the Alatamaha and the St. Mary's rivers. 
Within the space of ten years from 17G3, the ex- 
ports of the province increased from twenty-seven 
thousand, to one hundred and twenty-one thou- 
sand six hundred pounds sterling. The number 



116 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



of negroes in 1773 was estimated at fourteen 
thousand. The political aspect of the colony was, 
however, far from being unclouded. 

When the offensive stamp act of the 22d of 
March, 1765, received the royal assent, it pro- 
duced a tumult in every province in America. It 
was no sooner repealed than it was succeeded by 
the revival of another act equally offensive, for 
quartering his majesty's troops on the inhabitants, 
and supplying them in their quarters ; so that 
wherever they were stationed, no expense should 
be brought upon the crown. These and similar 
grievances occasioned a spirit of discontent, which 
the systematic neglect of all petitions for relief 
in no wise tended to allay. 

In 1768, Doctor Franklin was recognised as 
the agent of Georgia in England, but his subse- 
quent letters afforded only faint hopes of ade- 
quate relief. 

The people now determined to speak out for 
themselves. At a meeting of the legislature in 
the province of Georgia, in February, 1770, they 
took into consideration the authority by which the 
parliament of Great Britain claimed, to bind 
the people of America by statutes in all cases ; 
their imposition of taxes on the Americans under 
various pretences, but in truth for the purpose 
of raising a revenue ; their establishing of a board 
of commissioners with unconstitutional powers, 
and extending the jurisdiction of courts of admi- 



RIGHTS DEFINED. 117 



ralty, not only for collecting the duties imposed 
by these acts, but for trial of causes arising within 
the body of a county. Standing armies were also 
kept up in America in time of profound peace ; 
and by the revival of a statute made in the thirty- 
fifth year of Henry the Eighth, colonists might 
be transported to England, and tried there upon 
accusations for treason, or misprisions or conceal- 
ments of treason, committed in the colonies ; and 
by a late statute, such trials had been directed in 
cases therein mentioned. Moreover, the gover- 
nor had frequently taken upon himself to dissolve 
the assemblies, contrary to the rights of the peo- 
ple, when they attempted to deliberate on griev- 
ances, in conformity to the custom of their an- 
cestors, for ascertaining and vindicating their 
rights and liberties. 

In consequence of these infringements, the 
House of Assembly, after defining their rights by 
the laws of nature, the principles of the English 
constitution, and the several charters or compacts, 
resolved, ^' that the exercise of legislative power 
in any colony by a council appointed during plea- 
sure by the crown, may prove dangerous and 
destructive to the freedom of American legisla- 
tion : all and each of which, the commons of 
Georgia, in general assembly met, do claim, de- 
mand, and insist on, as their indubitable rights 
and liberties, which cannot be legally taken from 



118 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



them, altered, or abridged by any power what- 
ever, without their consent." 

After detailing a list of the acts of Parliament 
which the members of the assembly considered as 
infringing upon and violating the rights of the 
colonies, they demanded the repeal of the same, 
and closed their deliberations by resolving «' that 

, , be deputies to represent this 

province in the intended American continental 
congress, proposed to be held at the city of Phila- 
delphia on the 10th of May next, or at any other 
place or time as may hereafter be agreed on by 
the said congress." * 

Letters from Doctor Franklin, during the 
course of this year, held out some feeble prospects 
that, gradually, every obstruction to that cordial 
amity so necessary to the welfare of the whole 
empire would be removed. But the arbitrary 
conduct of the provincial governors and other 
crown officers, and the blind obstinacy of the 
British ministry, prevented such pleasing antici- 
pations from being realized. 

In 1772, corresponding committees were nomi- 
nated in all the colonies, and the crisis approached 
when it w^as necessary for them to decide whether 
they would submit to taxation by the British Par- 
liament, or make a firm stand for the support of 
their principles. 

During the intervening period, Georgia had 
been charged with lukewarmness in the cause of 



SITUATION OF GEORGIA. 119 



freedom by her sister provinces ; but though there 
appeared to be some grounds for the obnoxious 
accusation, her course was justified by all impar- 
tial minds, when the difficulties of her position 
came to be better understood. 

Her situation was a peculiar one. Governor 
Wright, with that political forecast which led 
him to anticipate the subsequent events, had se- 
cured to the interest of the king as many men of 
wealth, talents, and influence, as he could find 
willing to hold offices. John Stuart, superintend- 
ant of Indian affairs, had taken the same precau- 
tion in the selection of his agents with the different 
tribes of Indians. Many of the most wealthy 
inhabitants foresaw that their pecuniary ruin 
would be the inevitable consequence of partici- 
pating with the other colonies in resistance to the 
aggressions of the crown; while another class, 
composed of the idle and dissipated, who had 
little or nothing to risk, perceived their advantage 
in adhering to the royal government. 

The situation of Georgia was inauspicious. It 
was but thinly inhabited, on a territory about one 
hundred and fifty miles from north to south, and 
about thirty miles from east to west. It presented 
a western frontier of two hundred and fifty miles. 
It had on the northwest the Cherokees ; on the 
west, the Creeks ; on the south, a refugee banditti 
in Florida ; and on the east, the influence of Go- 
vernor Wright, who controlled the king's ships 



120 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



on the sea-coast. The population of the eastern 
district of the province was composed of white 
people and negro slaves ; the latter the most nu- 
merous, the former but few in number. A great 
majority of the inhabitants were favourable to the 
cause of the colonies ; yet, from surrounding dan- 
gers, their measures were to be adopted with 
cautious circumspection. 

Under these depressing circumstances, the 
strength of the republican party was of slow 
growth. The committees of safety, though cau- 
tious, were active and efficient ; and the more 
daring of the patriots took advantage of every 
opportunity of serving the cause of freedom, and 
testifying their abhorrence of the royal domina- 
tion. 

On the night of the 11th of May, 1775, a num- 
ber of gentlemen, principally members of the 
council of safety, and zealous in the American 
cause, broke open the magazine at the eastern 
extremity of the city of Savannah, took out the 
powder, sent a part of it to Beaufort, in South 
Carolina, and concealed the remainder in their 
cellars and garrets. Governor Wright issued a 
proclamation, offering a reward of one hundred 
and fifty pounds sterling for apprehending the 
offenders and bringing them to punishment ; but 
the secret was not disclosed until the Americans 
had occasion to use the ammunition in defence 
of their rights and property. 



PATRIOTIC PROCEEDINGS. 121 



On the 1st of June, Governor Wright and the 
loyal party at Savannah ordered preparations to 
be made for the celebration of the king's birth- 
day. On the night of the 2d, a number of the 
inhabitants of the town collected, spiked up all 
the cannon on the battery, and hurled them to 
the bottom of the bluff. With difficulty a few of 
the spikes were drawn and drilled out, and the 
guns re-mounted to perform the usual ceremonies. 

A general election was held for delegates, to 
meet at Savannah on the 4th day of July. The 
members accordingly assembled ; and on the 15th 
of that month they appointed the honourable 
Archibald Bulloch, John Houstoun, John Joachim 
Zubly, Noble Wimberly Jones, and Lyman Hall, 
esquires, to represent this province in Congress, 
at Philadelphia. The resolution for this measure 
was signed by fifty-three members, who pledged 
themselves for its support ; and their proceedings 
were communicated to Congress, then in session, 
accompanied by a declaration that this province 
was determined to unite in, and adhere to the 
common cause of the provinces. 

During the session of the delegates in Savan- 
nah, Captain Maitland, from London, arrived at 
Tybee, with thirteen thousand pounds of powder, 
and other articles for the use of the British troops, 
and for the Indian trade. It was determined to 
obtain possession of that valuable prize without 

loss of time. Accordingly, about thirty volun- 

II 



122 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



teers, under the command of Commodore Brown 
and Colonel Joseph Habersham, embarked on 
board of two boats, proceeded down the river 
Savannah to the ship, took possession of her, and 
discharged the crew. A guard was left on board 
of the ship, and the powder brought to town and 
secured in the magazine. Five thousand pounds 
of the powder were sent to the patriots near Bos- 
ton. 

Owing to a variety of causes, but mainly to a 
dread of being involved in a war with the Chero- 
kees, who were already desolating the frontiers 
of South Carolina, Georgia took no farther open 
and decided part in the contest, until the meeting 
of the provincial assembly on the 20th of Janu- 
ary, 1776. 

Then it was that President Ewin, of the com- 
mittee of safety, laid before the house a variety 
of documents, representing the oppression of the 
other colonies to the north, and the united zeal 
with which the British troops had been opposed. 
Among other papers was the address of the 
House of Commons to the king, at the opening of 
parliament, on the 28th of October, 1775. In 
this address the English members expressed the 
greatest satisfaction in having learned that the 
king had increased his naval establishment, and 
greatly augmented his land forces ; and that he 
had adopted the economical plan of drawing as 
many regiments from outposts as could be spared, 



THE GOVERNOR ARRESTED. 123 



to subdue the American colonies, and bring tbem 
to a proper sense of their dependence upon the 
British government. 

After the documents were read, the house en- 
tered into a resolution to embark with the other 
colonies in the common cause with the utmost 
zeal ; to resist and be free. Orders were given to 
arrest Governor Wright and his council. Ac- 
cordingly, on the 28th of January, Joseph Ha- 
bersham, Esq., who was then a member of the 
house, raised a party of volunteers, took Gover- 
nor Wright prisoner, paroled him to his house, 
and placed a sentinel at his door, prohibiting all 
intercourse with the members of his council, the 
king's officers, or any other persons who were 
supposed to be inimical to the American cause. 

On the night of the 11th of February, the 
governor effected his escape, and passing down 
the river in a boat, took refuge on board the 
Scarborough man-of-war, which, with four other 
armed ships, was lying at Tybee, in the mouth 
of the Savannah River. 

Previous to this occurrence, the assembly had 
passed a resolution to raise a battalion of conti- 
nental troops ; and on the 4th of February, the 
following field officers were appointed to com- 
mand it : Lachlan Mcintosh, Colonel ; Samuel El- 
bert, Lieutenant-colonel ; and Joseph Habersham, 
Major. About the same time, Archibald Eul- 
loch, John Houstoun, Lyman Hall, Button Gwi- 



124 HISTORY OP GEORGIA. 



nett, and George Watson, esquires, were elected 
to represent the province in Congress, at Phila- 
delphia. Bills of credit were issued in the form 
of certificates, and resolutions entered into for 
the punishment of those who refused to receive 
them in payment of debts, or at par, for any 
article which was offered for sale. 

In direct opposition to a law of Congress, pro- 
hibiting commercial intercourse between the colo- 
nies and the British dominions, a number of 
wealthy loyalist planters, early in March, freighted 
in Savannah River eleven merchant vessels with 
rice, and prepared for a sea Yojage. To favour 
this design, the armed ships at the mouth of the 
river, moved up and threatened the town. The 
militia under the command of Colonel Mcintosh 
were immediately called out ; and with the as- 
sistance of five hundred Carolinians, commanded 
by Colonel Bull, succeeded in dislodging the 
enemy, burning three of the merchant vessels, 
and dismantling six. The other two escaped to 
sea. 

Upon this trying occasion, the patriotism of 
the citizens of Savannah was tested, by a resolu- 
tion which was offered by one of the members of 
the committee of safety ; the purport of which 
was, that the houses in Savannah which were 
owned by those whose motto was "Liberty or 
Death," including houses which belonged to 
widows and orphans, should be appraised; and 



PROPOSAL TO BURN SAVANNAH. 125 



in the event of the enemy's gaining possesion of 
the city, the torch was to be applied in every di- 
rection, and the town to be abandoned in smoking 
ruins. To the astonishment, even of those who 
made the proposition, when the republican party 
was convened, there was not one dissenting voice. 
Among the number where this resolution origi- 
nated, were many of the most wealthy inhabit- 
ants of Savannah, and some whose all consisted 
of houses and lots. The houses of those persons 
who were inimical to the American cause were 
not to be noticed in the valuation. Committees 
were accordingly appointed, and in a few hours 
returns were made to the council of safety. 
There are many instances of conflagration by 
order of a monarch, "who can do no wrong," 
but there are few instances upon record, where 
the patriotism of the citizen has urged him on 
to the destruction of his own property, to pre- 
vent its becoming an asylum to the enemies of 
his country. 



11* 



126 HISTORY OP GEORGIA. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Loyalists take refuge in Florida — Their predatory incursions — 
Treachery of the McGirth's — Expedition against the Chero- 
kees — Treaty of peace with that nation — Unsuccessful inva- 
sions of Florida — Howe's attempt — The American army re- 
treats — Georgia attacked on the south — Skirmish at BuUtown 
Swamp — Battle at Medway — 'Scriven mortally wounded — 
White retreats to the Ogechee — Sunbury invested — Heroic 
reply of Colonel Mcintosh — The enemy retreats. 

During the period in ■wliicli the republican 
party in Georgia maintained the ascendency, 
many of the loyalists fled from the latter pro- 
vince and from the Carolinas, and found a secure 
retreat in East Florida. The southern frontiers 
of Georgia were thus exposed to the predatory 
incursions of these banditti, who bore the appel- 
lation of "Florida Rangers," and whose place 
of rendezvous and deposite was a fort on St. 
Mary's River. The destruction of this recepta- 
cle became, therefore, an object of great conse- 
quence. 

Accordingly, during the year 1776, Captain 
John Baker collected seventy mounted militia, 
and marched to St. Mary's with the hope of sur- 
prising and demolishing the fort. 

Unfortunately, when he was within a short 
distance of the fortress, he was discovered by a 



TREACHERY AND DESERTION. 12T 



negro, who gave the garrison notice of his ap- 
proach. The enemy were immediately on the 
alert, and Baker, finding his design frustrated, 
retreated eight or nine miles and encamped for 
the night. While his party were sleeping in 
fancied security, Daniel and James McGirth, two 
privates who had been placed on guard, stole the 
greater part of the horses and deserted with them 
to the enemy. For this act of treachery, Daniel 
McGirth received the appointment of lieutenant- 
colonel of the Florida Rangers, and his brother 
that of captain in the same corps. These trai- 
tors afterward distinguished themselves above 
all others, by the energy, audacity, and cruelty 
with which their predatory incursions were 
marked. 

The subsequent operations of this and the 
succeeding year consisted of an expedition 
against the Cherokees, which resulted in a treaty 
of peace with that nation ; of numerous skir- 
mishes between the loyalists and patriots, wherein 
victory inclined sometimes to the one side and 
sometimes to the other ; and of several abortive 
attempts made by the Americans to conquer 
East Florida; which, being planned with rash- 
ness, and executed without skill, depressed the 
ardour of the patriots and gave increased confi- 
dence to the enemy. 

Early in the year 1778, Major-general Robert 
Howe, to whom the command of the southern 



128 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



forces had previously been confided, removed his 
head-quarters from Charleston to Savannah. 

The project of reducing Florida being still a 
favourite one, Governor Houstoun of Georgia 
consented to co-operate with Howe for that pur- 
pose. 

Accordingly, on the 20th of May, the latter 
reached the Alatamaha, where he halted till his 
reinforcements should come up. On the 25th, 
Howe crossed the river and landed at Eeid's 
Bluff. Here the mischievous effects of a divided 
command became first apparent. Governor Hous- 
toun had issued orders in regard to his galleys 
which it was impossible for them to execute ; 
neither of the commanders was willing to submit 
to the dictation of the other, and as unanimity 
of action was no longer to be expected, the 
American forces were compelled to return with- 
out effecting any thing of importance. 

These repeated failures were probably among 
the causes which induced the enemy to become 
assailants in their turn. 

General Augustine Provost, who commanded 
at St. Augustine, was informed by the British 
general at New York, that a number of trans- 
ports with troops on board would sail from thence 
direct for the coast of Georgia, and was ordered 
by him to send detachments from his commmand 
to annoy the southern frontier of that state, and 
divert the attention of the American troops from 



BRITISH PREDATORY INCURSION. 129 



Savannali. By these measures, the possession 
of that town would be obtained with little loss, 
the retreat of the American troops cut off, and 
their capture rendered probable. Reinforce- 
ments were promised to insure success to the en- 
terprise. 

In obedience to these orders, Provost de- 
spatched a portion of his troops, with some light 
artillery, by water, to Sunbury, where Colonel 
John Mcintosh was stationed with one hundred 
and twenty-seven men. The command of the 
British detachment was given to Lieutenant- 
colonel Fuser, Avho had orders to possess himself 
of that important post. Another detachment 
under Lieutenant-colonel James Mark Provost, 
consisting of one hundred regular troops, sailed 
by the inland navigation to Port Howe on the 
Alatamaha, where he was joined by the infamous 
McGirth, with three hundred refugees and In- 
dians. 

On the 19th of November, Lieutenant-colonel 
Provost advanced into the settlements, making 
prisoners of all the men found on their farms, 
and plundering the inhabitants of every valuable 
article that was portable. 

As soon as Colonel John Baker received intel- 
ligence of the advance of Provost and McGirth, 
he assembled a party of mounted militia with the 
intention of annoying the enemy on tTieir march. 
He had not proceeded farther than Bulltown 



130 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



Swamp, when he fell into an ambuscade prepared 
by Mc Girth, and after a short skirmish was com- 
pelled to retreat. 

In the mean time, Colonel John White had col- 
lected about one hundred continental troops and 
militia. "With two pieces of light artillery he took 
post at Medway meeting-house. He constructed 
a slight breastwork across the road, at the head 
of the causeway over which the enemy must pass, 
where he hoped to keep them in check until he 
should be reinforced by Colonel Elbert from Sa- 
vannah. 

On the 24th, General James Scriven, with 
twenty militia, joined Colonel White. While the 
enemy was approaching it was determined to meet 
them in ambush, about a mile and a half south 
of Medway meeting-house, where the main road 
was skirted by a thick wood. But the design 
was already anticipated by McGirth. 

When the Americans approached the ground 
they intended to occupy, General Scriven, accom- 
panied by his aid-de-camp. Lieutenant Glascock, 
inclined to the right to make a reconnoisance, 
while Colonel White arranged his plan of attack. 
The British and Americans arrived on the ground, 
and were preparing their snares for each other 
about the same time. A firing commenced. Gene- 
ral Scriven had advanced but a short distance, 
when he received a mortal wound, of which he 
died the ensuing day. Major Baker, who com- 



THE AMERICANS RETREAT. 131 



manded tlie left flank, pressed tlie enemy with 
such vigour that they gave way, but they were 
soon reinforced and returned to the contest. 

As Colonel Provost was crossing the road, a 
shot from one of the field-pieces passed through 
the neck of his horse and he fell. On seeing him 
fall, Major Roman advanced quickly with the 
field-pieces to take advantage of the confusion 
which ensued ; and Major James Jackson called 
out "Victory," supposing the enemy was retreat- 
ing. But Provost was soon remounted, and ad- 
vanced in force. 

Finding himself opposed by far superior num- 
bers, Colonel White ordered a retreat to the 
meeting-house, which he effected in good order 
by throwing out small parties to annoy the front 
and flanks of the enemy, and by breaking down 
the bridges as he retired. 

When he had regained his position, he learned 
that the force opposed to him consisted of five 
hundred m.en. This great superiority of numbers 
compelled him to retreat to the Ogechee River, 
but fearful of being pressed too closely by the 
enemy, he endeavoured by a stratagem to check 
the ardour of their pursuit. 

He prepared a letter as though it had been 
written to himself by Colonel Elbert, directing 
him to retreat, in order to draw the British as 
far as possible ; and informing him that a large 
body of cavalry had crossed over Ogechee River, 



132 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



with orders to gain the rear of the enemy, by 
which their whole force would be captured. 

This letter was dropped in such a way as to 
insure its getting to Colonel Provost's hand, and 
to attach to it the strongest evidence of its genu- 
ineness. It was found, handed to Provost, and 
was supposed to have been so far effectual as to 
deter the enemy from advancing more than six 
or seven miles. When White reached the Oge- 
chee, he found Colonel Elbert already there with 
a reinforcement of two hundred men. 

The latter now assumed the command. He 
despatched by Major John Habersham a flag to 
Colonel Provost, requesting permission to furnish 
General Scriven with medical aid. The messen- 
ger was also to propose some general arrange- 
ments to secure the country against pillage and 
conflagration. The attendance of surgeons was 
allowed, but Colonel Provost refused to make any 
stipulations for the security of the country. 

Learning from Major Habersham — whom he 
put upon his honour to answer truly — that no 
British reinforcements had arrived off the coast 
of Georgia, he retreated early next morning 
toward St. Augustine, burning and plundering as 
he went. 

The British detachment under Colonel Fuser, 
being delayed by contrary winds, did not reach 
Sunbury before the 1st of December. On that 
day, Fuser anchored off Colonel's Island. After 



HEROIC REPLY. 133 



making tlie necessary preparations to attack the 
fort by land and water, he demanded a surrender ; 
threatening, in case of refusal, to put the whole 
garrison to the sword. The force under Fuser 
amounted to five hundred men, well supplied with 
battering cannon, artillery, and mortars. The 
garrison at the fort did not exceed one hundred 
and twenty-seven men. Against a well-conducted 
attack the works would not have been tenable for 
an hour ; but expecting immediate relief from 
Savannah, Colonel Mcintosh determined on oppo- 
sition to the last extremity. When, therefore, 
Fuser summoned the garrison to surrender the 
fort, Mcintosh, undeterred by the bloody threat 
of extermination, answered in four bold defiant 
words, " Come and take it." This heroic reply 
deterred Fuser from making an attack, until he 
should be joined by the forces under Provost. 
Learning soon afterward that the latter had re- 
treated, Fuser, alarmed by the tidings of troops 
advancing from Savannah, and hearing nothing 
of the expected reinforcements from the north, 
supposed that Provost had fallen back before a 
superior force. He therefore raised the siege and 
returned to St. John's River, where he met Pro- 
vost, and where each attributed the failure of the 
expedition to the misconduct of the other. 

When Fuser retreated from Sunbury, he left 
the regular troops of his command at Frederica, 
on St. Simon's Island, where the old military 

12 



134 HISTORY OP GEORGIA. 



works of General Oglethorpe were temporarily 
repaired for defence. The loyalists proceeded 
with Fuser to St. John's, and thence to St. Augus- 
tine, where the booty was deposited in safety, 
and preparations made to return to Georgia with 
a more formidable force. 

General Provost, having been disappointed in 
this expedition, determined to suspend further 
operations until he should receive certain informa- 
tion of the arrival of the transports from New 
York. In the mean time, he held himself in 
readiness for that event. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Defensive operations of General Howe — Approach of the Bri- 
tish fleet — Exposed condition of Savannah — British army 
land at Brewton's Hill — Capture of Savannah — Provost takes 
Sunbury — The Rev. Moses Allen drowned — Lincoln assumes 
command of the southern army — Provost unites with Camp- 
bell^ — Proclamations of the enemy — Unsuccessftil conference 
for the exchange of prisoners. 

During the interval that elapsed between the 
retreat of Provost and Fuser into Florida, and 
the arrival of British reinforcements from New 
York, General Howe endeavoured to place the 
province of Georgia in the best state of defence 
that circumstances would admit. 

From his letters to Congress, the attempt ap- 
pears to have been both difficult and unsatisfac- 



BRITISH INVASION. 135 



tory. He complained that all the military works 
were in ruins ; that there were no tools, nor any 
apparent disposition to make the necessary re- 
pairs ; that the militia came and went as they 
pleased ; and that he had more trouble with the 
officers than with the men. 

On the other hand, the people of Georgia 
charged Howe with military incapacity ; and the 
influence of the state was exerted to remove him 
from the chief command ; but as Congress had, 
as yet, seen nothing to justify this exercise of its 
power, the request, from motives of delicacy, was 
not complied with. 

It was during this untoward state of affairs in 
the province that tidings reached Savannah of 
the approach of the enemy. 

On the 27th of December, the transports, 
escorted by a squadron of the fleet, under the 
command of Commodore Sir Hyde Parker, crossed 
the bar and came up to Cockspur Island. 

The British land forces consisted of the seventy- 
first regiment of Eoyal Scots, two battalions of 
Hessians, four battalions of provincials, and a 
detachment of artillery. They were commanded 
by Lieutenant-colonel Archibald Campbell, an 
officer of acknowledged skill and bravery. 

Having made arrangements for landing, the 
Vigilant man-of-war, Keppel brig, Greenwich 
sloop-of-war, and the Comet galley, came up the 
river with a strong tide and favourable breeze. 



136 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



followed by the transports in three divisions. 
About five o'clock in the afternoon of the 28th, 
the Vigilant opened the reach at Four-mile Point, 
and was cannonaded by the American galleys 
Congress and Dee, but without much effect. 
Night coming on, some of the transports grounded 
on a mud flat, but got off at high- water, and pro- 
ceeded up, in the morning, above Five-fathom 
Hole, opposite to Brewton's Hill, where the first 
division of light infantry debarked, and marched 
up to take possession of the high ground, so as to 
cover the landing of the troops from the other 
transports. 

Savannah, at this time, was in the most defence- 
less condition imaginable. With the exception 
of a few guns mounted upon a battery at the 
eastern end of the city, and only calculated to 
defend the approach by water, every other part 
of the town was exposed, and the ground offered 
no advantage against an equal force. 

General Howe had formed his encampment 
southeast of the town of Savannah, anxiously 
waiting the arrival of reinforcements of miltia and 
the continental troops from South Carolina, under 
the command of Major-general Benjamin Lincoln. 
Howe's army had not yet recovered from the 
fatal effects of the Florida campaign, the pre- 
ceding summer : about one-fourth were confined 
by disease, and many of his convalescents yet too 
feeble to encounter the fatigues of a battle. The 



APPROACHES TO SAVANNAH. 137 



dread of a climate, wliere disease had produced 
more terror's, and proved not less fatal than the 
sword, retarded the progress of militia, and pre- 
vented many from returning who were absent on 
furlough. On the day of battle, Howe's army, 
exclusive of militia, amounted to six hundred and 
seventy-two, rank and file. The force of the 
enemy was tw^o thousand one hundred, including 
land troops, seamen, and marines ; but it was 
thought by Howe that the enemy exhibited the 
appearance of greater numbers than what was 
really possessed, and that the opposing armies 
were nearly equal. 

The town of Savannah is situated on high, 
level, sandy ground, forty feet above the surface 
of the water, on the south bank of the river, and 
approachable by land at three points ; — from the 
high ground of Brewton's Hill and Thunderbolt, 
on the east by a road and causeway over a 
morass, with rice-fields on the north side of the 
causeway to the river, and the morass with wooded 
swamps from the causeway southward several 
miles ; from the south, by the roads from White 
Blufi" and Ogechee Ferry, which unite near the 
town ; and from the westward, by a road and 
causeway over the deep swamps of Musgrove's 
Creek, with rice-fields from the causeway to the 
river on the north, and by Musgrove's Swamp 
leading in from the southward. From the eastern 



12* 



138 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



causeway to that on the west is about three 
quarters of a mile. 

On the morning of the 29th, Colonel Elbert 
suggested to Howe the advantage of occupying 
Brewton's Hill, and offered to defend it with his 
regiment ; but his proposition was rejected. 
About the same time, Colonel Walton informed 
the general of a private way through the swamp, 
by w^hich the enemy could march from the high 
grounds of Brewton's Hill and gain the rear of 
the American right ; but though it admitted of 
easy defence. General Howe did not avail himself 
of the advantage which would have resulted from 
its occupation. By this pass, so blindly neg- 
lected. Colonel Campbell approached. 

Howe formed for battle on the southeast side 
of the town. His centre was opposed to the head 
of the causeway by which he believed the enemy 
must advance ; his left with the rice-fields in 
front, and flanked by the river ; his right with 
the morass in front, and flanked obliquely by the 
wooded swamp, and one hundred of the Georgia 
militia. 

Having made his disposition, Howe detached 
Captain John C. Smith, of South Carolina, with 
his company of forty infantry, to occupy Brew- 
ton's Hill and the head of the causeway. The 
force was altogether inadequate to its object. 
Smith defended his post with gallantry, but was 
compelled to retreat, which he accomplished with- 



Howe's indiscretion. 139 



out loss of men. The enemy lost in this affair 
one captain and two privates killed, and five pri- 
vates wounded. 

Ignorant as yet of the force of the enemy, but 
now believing it to be greatly superior to his own, 
Howe called a council of his field ofiicers to advise 
him whether to retreat or defend Savannah. Very 
rashly they resolved to defend the town to the 
last extremity. General Howe certainly ought 
not to have risked an action with superior num- 
bers, when he had certain information that Gene- 
ral Lincoln was advancing with a body of troops 
to reinforce him, and with whom he could have 
formed a junction in two days. 

The consequences were disastrous in the ex- 
treme. After Colonel Campbell had formed his 
army on Brewton's Hill, he moved forward and 
took a position within eight hundred yards of the 
American front, where he manoeuvred to excite a 
belief that he intended an attack on their centre 
and left. At the same time a body of infantry 
and New York volunteers, under the command 
of Major Sir James Baird, filed off, unperceived, 
from the rear, and, under the guidance of an old 
negro, penetrated the swarhp by the pass which 
Howe had so carelessly neglected, and fell sud- 
denly upon the American rear. At this moment 
Campbell moved forward and attacked the front. 
Hemmed in between two fires, the American line 
was almost immediately broken, and the men 



140 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 

retreated in great disorder towards the onlj prac- 
ticable outlet across Musgrove's Swamp, west 
of the town. Before thej gained the head of 
the causeway, they found, to their dismay, that 
the enemy already occupied a position which 
enabled them to dispute the passage. 

At length, however, by the extraordinary ex- 
ertions of Colonel Roberts, the American centre 
gained the causeway and accomplished their re- 
treat. The right flank suflfered severely. The 
left, under Colonel Elbert, continued the conflict 
until a retreat was impracticable. He attempted 
to escape with a part of his troops, under a gal- 
ling fire from the high grounds of Ewensburgj 
through the rice-fields between the causeway and 
the river ; but as it w^as high-tide when they 
reached the creek, only those who could swim 
were enabled to cross it ; the others were made 
prisoners or drowned. 

About one hundred Georgia militia, under 
Colonel Walton, posted on the south common of 
the towm, made a gallant defence until their 
colonel was wounded and taken prisoner. The 
way of retreat being cut off", most of the men 
were killed, wounded; or taken. Some of them, 
who were citizens of Savannah, were bayoneted 
in the streets by their victorious pursuers. Gene- 
ral Howe retreated with the remains of his army 
to Cherokee Hill, about eight miles from the field 
of battle, where he halted till the rear came up. 



BRITISH INHUMANITY. 141 



He then marched up the Savannah River to the 
Sister's and Zubley's ferries, and crossed over 
into South Carolina. 

Few conquests have ever been made with so 
little loss to the victor. The enemy had only 
seven killed, and nineteen wounded. 

The American army lost eighty-three men 
killed, and thirty-eight oflScers ; and four hun- 
dred and fifteen non-commissioned officers and 
privates, including the sick, wounded, and the aged 
inhabitants of the town and country, were made 
prisoners. The fort, with forty-eight pieces of 
cannon, and twenty-three mortars and howitzers, 
with all the ammunition and stores belonging to 
them, a large quantity of provisions, the ship- 
ping in the river, and the capital of Georgia, all 
fell into the possession of the British army, in 
the course of a few hours. The private soldiers 
who were made prisoners on this occasion were 
alternately persuaded and threatened to induce 
them to enlist into the British army : those who 
resolutely refused were crowded on board of 
prison-ships, and during the succeeding summer, 
four or five of tljem died every day : the staff- 
officers, particularly those of the quarter-master's 
and commissary's departments, were treated in a 
similar way. Many gentlemen who had been ac- 
customed to ease and affluence were consigned 
to these abominable prison-ships : among the 
number was the venerable Jonathan Bryan, bend- 



142 HISTOPtY OF GEORGIA. 



ing under the weight of years and infirmitieSj 
whose daughter, when she was entreating with 
Commodore Sir Hyde Parker to soften the suf- 
ferings of her father, was treated by him with 
vulgar rudeness and contempt. 

When General Howe halted at Cherokee Hill^ 
he despatched Lieutenant Tennill with orders to 
Lieutenant Aaron Smith of the third regiment 
of South Carolina, who commanded at Ogechee 
Ferry, and to Major Joseph Lane, who com- 
manded at Sunbury, to evacuate their posts, re- 
treat across the country, and join the army at the 
Sister's Ferry. Lieutenant Smith immediately 
complied ; but Major Lane, influenced by Captain 
Dollar, who commanded a corps of artillery, and 
many others of the inhabitants whose pecuniary 
ruin was at stake, resolved to defend his post. 
On the 6th of January, 1779, he was attacked 
by General Provost, with an army of two thou- 
sand men from Florida, and after a short conflict 
compelled to surrender at discretion. By this 
rash and unwarrantable conduct, the Americans 
lost twenty-four pieces of artillery, ammunitioDy 
and provisions, and the garrison, consisting of 
seventeen commissioned officers and one hundred 
and ninety-five non-commissioned officers and 
privates. During this assault one captain and 
three privates were killed and seven wounded. 
The British loss in killed and wounded was only 
four men. 



REV. MOSES ALLEN. 143 



The Washington and Bulloch galleys were 
stranded and burned by their crews, who took 
passage for Charleston on board of Captain Sal- 
ter's sloop, but were captured by a British tender 
and taken to Savannah. 

For this disobedience of orders. Lane was sub- 
sequently tried by a court-martial, and dismissed 
the service. 

After Sunbury fell into the possession of the 
British troops, the continental oflScers who were 
made prisoners at Savannah were sent to that 
place on their parole, except the Rev. Moses 
Allen, who had accepted a commission as chaplain 
in the Georgia brigade. 

This gentleman was refused the privileges al- 
lowed to the other officers, and confined on board 
a prison-ship. His animated exertions on the 
field of battle, and his patriotic exhortations from 
the pulpit, had exposed him to the particular 
resentment of the enemy. Wearied by long con- 
finement, and hopeless of speedy release, he de- 
termined to regain his liberty, or lose his life in 
the attempt. In pursuance of this hazardous 
resolution, he leaped overboard with the hope of 
being able to swim to one of the islands, assisted 
by the flood-tide, but was unfortunately drowned. 
The death of Mr. Allen was greatly lamented by 
the friends of independence, and particularly by 
his brethren in arms, who justly admired him 
for his bravery, exemplary life, and many virtues. 



144 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



Major-general Benjamin Lincoln, who had been 
previously appointed by Congress to take the 
command of the southern army, reached Purys- 
burg, a few miles above Savannah, on the 3d of 
January. His troops, consisting of levies from 
North and South Carolina, amounted to twelve 
hundred men. 

On the 4th, he was joined by the remnant of 
Howe's army, which had been placed under the 
orders of Colonel Huger. 

Finding himself in no condition to advance 
against the enemy, Lincoln established his head- 
quarters at Purysburg, and waited for the ex- 
pected reinforcement. 

When General Provost had united his troops 
with those under Campbell, his force consisted 
of nearly four thousand men. He determined 
to complete the subjugation of Georgia, and 
establish military posts as far as the populous 
settlements in the back country extended. He 
confided the garrison of Savannah and the police 
of the neighbouring country to Lieutenant-colonel 
Innes ; he established a fort at Ebenezer, twenty- 
five miles above Savannah, and advanced Lieu- 
tenant-colonel Campbell at the head of eight 
hundred infantry to capture Augusta, and take 
advantage of circumstances in completing the 
conquest of the province. With the main body 
he watched the movements of the American 
general. The inhabitants of Savannah and the 



BRITISH PROCLAMATION. 145 



surrounding country were ordered by proclama- 
tion to bring in their arms and accoutrements 
of every description, and to discover where arms, 
accoutrements, stores, and effects were buried 
or otherwise concealed. 

Regulations were established ; places desig- 
nated for the landing of boats ; and, to prevent 
property from being carried away, no departure 
was allowed without a permit from the superin- 
tendent of the port. 

A joint proclamation was also issued by the 
commanders of the royal army and navy, offer- 
ing peace, freedom, and protection to the king's 
subjects in America, desiring them to repair 
without loss of time and unite their forces un- 
der the royal standard ; reprobating the idea of 
forming a league with the French; promising 
freedom from the imposition of taxes by the Bri- 
tish Parliament, and securing them in the enjoy- 
ment of every privilege consistent with the mutual 
interests of the colonies and the mother country. 
Ample protection was offered to the persons and 
effects of all who would immediately come in and 
acknowledge their allegiance to the British crown 
and support it with their arms. Deserters of 
every description were invited to return within 
three months, and such inhabitants as were in- 
clined to enjoy the benefits of the proclamation 
were desired to repair to head-quarters at Savan- 
nah, and take the oath of allegiance. 



13 



146 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



On the lltli of January, another proclamation 
was issued, offering a reward of two guineas for 
every citizen who adhered to the American cause, 
and ten guineas for every committee or assembly- 
man, who should be taken and delivered to the 
commanding officer of any of the king's garrisons. 

The families of those who adhered to the cause 
of their country, whether in the camp or on board 
of prison-ships, were stripped by the British of 
every article of property, even to the common 
necessaries of life. From this cause many of 
them were reduced to the most deplorable ex- 
tremities. 

Upon a representation of the suffering of the 
Americans in captivity being made to General 
Lincoln at Purysburg, the general wrote to Lieu- 
tenant-colonel Campbell, then on his marclr to 
Augusta, and proposed a conference with him at 
Zubley's Ferry, for an exchange of prisoners, and 
the parole of the officers until exchanged. A 
negotiation was consented to, and Lieutenant- 
colonel James M. Provost was nominated to con- 
fer with Major Thomas Pinckney on the subject. 
They had an interview on the 31st of January, 
and terms were proposed ; but being such as 
Major Pinckney could not in honour allow, the 
negotiation terminated in a disagreement. 



POSITION OF LINCOLN. 147 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Position of Lincoln — His force — 'Moultrie defeats Gardiner — 
Skirmishes in Burke county — Campbell occupies Augusta — 
Pickens and Dooley besiege Hamilton at Carr's Fort — Pur- 
suit of Boyd — Battle of Kettle Creek — Death of Boyd — 
British outpost surprised and captured. 

The position chosen bj General Lincoln at 
Purysburg was an excellent one. It enabled him 
to ^Yatch the movements of General Provost, and 
wait for reinforcements. 

The freshets in Savannah River at that season 
of the year overflowed the swamps from two to 
four miles in breadth, and upwards of one hundred 
miles in length from the sea, so that neither 
general could assail the other with any prospect 
of advantage. 

By a field return, on the 1st of February, 
General Lincoln had three thousand six hundred 
and thirty-nine men, composed of about six hun- 
dred continental troops, five hundred new levies, 
and one thousand three hundred eifective militia. 
The residue were invalids, and without arms. If 
the American troops had been all efi*ective and 
veteran. General Lincoln would have been about 
equal to his antagonist ; but his numbers were 
principally made up by militia, on which no de- 



148 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



pendance could be placed, when opposed to a 
veteran arm j. From the equality of the militia 
with their officers, and independence at home, 
they were unwilling to submit to the requisite 
discipline of a camp : they must know where they 
were to go, what they were going to do, and 
how long they were to be absent, before they 
would move ; and if not satisfied on these points, 
and permitted to do very much as they pleased, 
they would be off, knowing that their punishment 
for desertion would be light. 

Early in February, a party of the enemy, 
commanded by Major Gardiner, embarked at 
Savannah, and proceeded by the inland passage 
to Beaufort, in South Carolina ; they effected a 
landing, but were soon after attacked and defeated 
by General Moultrie, with an equal force, neafly 
all militia of Charleston. In this engagement 
forty of the enemy were killed and wounded: 
they fled to their boats, and returned to Savannah. 

While Lieutenant-colonel Campbell was ad- 
vancing to take possession of Augusta, he de- 
tached Colonels Brown and McGirth, with four 
hundred mounted militia, to make a forced march 
to the jail in Burke county, and form a junction 
with Colonel Thomas and a party of loyalists. 
On his way thither. Brown fell in with a party of 
two hundred and fifty militia under Colonels Few 
and Twiggs, and in the attack which ensued, he 
was defeated with the loss of several men. Ex- 



SKIRMISHES. 149 



pecting that Brown would be reinforced by Camp- 
bell, Twiggs and Few retreated the ensuing day. 

Brown rallied his troops during the night, and 
having been strengthened in the mean time by 
some refugees from South Carolina, and a de- 
tachment under Major Gardiner, he determined 
to renew the attack. He was defeated with 
greater loss than before, himself being among the 
wounded. In this skirmish Captain Joshua Inman 
killed three of the enemy with his own hand. 

Shortly after this, Twiggs and Few being 
joined by a detachment of troops under General 
Elbert, the united commands crossed the Savan- 
nah River, and skirmished with Campbell; but 
not receiving the reinforcements they expected, 
were compelled to retire, and Campbell took pos- 
session of Augusta about the last of January, 
where he established a post, and placed it under 
the orders of Colonel Brown. 

About the 1st of February, Campbell spread 
his military posts over the most populous parts 
of Georgia, and all opposition ceased, though for 
a few days only. The oath of allegiance was 
administered to the inhabitants who remained, 
and the torch applied to the habitations of those 
who had fled into Carolina. 

When the families of the latter were placed in 
security, the men assembled under their leader, 
Colonel John Dooley, and took a position on the 
Carolina shore of the Savannah River, about thirty 

13* 



150 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



miles above Augusta. McGirth, witli three hun- 
dred loyalists, occupied a position on the Georgia 
shore, five miles below. Doolej returned into 
Georgia with a part of his men, but being closely 
pressed by one of McGirth's detachments under 
Major Hamilton, was compelled to recross the 
Savannah River. 

Hamilton then encamped at Waters's planta- 
tion, three miles below Petersburg, and Dooley 
opposite to him in Carolina, where he was joined 
by Colonel Andrew Pickens, with two hundred 
and fifty men of his regiment. 

With this united force it was determined to as- 
sault Hamilton's detachment. But the latter had 
already marched across the country, and was in 
possession of Carr's Fort before the main body of 
the Americans came up with them. The baggage 
and horses of the enemy fell into the hands ol 
their pursuers. 

Hamilton was summoned to surrender, but re- 
fused. Knowing that the garrison were without 
food or water, a siege was determined upon, under 
the confident belief that they could not hold out 
twenty-four hours. But disappointment awaited 
the besiegers. An express arrived from Captain 
Pickens, with the information that Colonel Boyd, 
at the head of eight hundred loyalists, was pass- 
ing through Ninety-six district, on his way into 
Georgia, ravaging and burning all before him. 

The Americans instantly raised the siege, and 



MILITARY OPEEATIONS. 151 



started in pursuit of Boyd. In tlie mean time, 
Captain Anderson, with eighty men of Pickens's 
regiment, having learned that the enemy were 
advancing, took post about five miles above 
Cherokee Ford, and disputed Boyd's passage into 
Georgia. 

In the skirmish which ensued the American loss 
was sixteen killed and wounded, and the same 
number taken prisoners. Boyd acknowledged a 
loss of one hundred in killed, wounded, and miss- 
ing ; many of this number deserted him, and 
returned to their homes. After the skirmish, 
Anderson retreated, and joined Pickens and 
Dooley in pursuit of the enemy. 

On the 12th of February, the Americans passed 
over Savannah River into Georgia, and advanced 
to Fishdam Ford on Broad River. Captain Neal, 
with a party of observation, was ordered to gain 
the enemy's rear, and occasionally send a man 
back w^ith the result of his discoveries, so as to 
keep the main body well informed of the enemy's 
movements. To avoid danger, Boyd at first 
shaped his course to the westward, and on the 
morning of the 13th, crossed Broad River near 
the fork, at a place now called Webb's Ferry, 
and thence turned toward Augusta, expecting to 
form a junction with McGirth at a place appointed 
on Little River. The corps of observation under 
Captain Neal hung close upon the enemy's rear, 
and made frequent communications to Pickens 



152 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



and Dooley. The Americans crossed Broad 
River, and encamped for the night on Clark's 
Creek, within four miles of the enemy. 

Early on the morning of the 14th, the Ameri- 
cans resumed their march with a quickened pace, 
and soon approached the enemy's rear, but with 
such caution as to remain undiscovered. The 
line of march was the order of battle, wherever 
the face of the country admitted of it. Colonel 
Dooley commanded the right wing, and Lieute- 
nant-colonel Clarke the left, each consisting of 
one hundred men. The centre, commanded by 
Colonel Pickens, consisted of two hundred, and 
an advance guard one hundred and fifty yards in 
front. Under three leaders whose courage and 
military talents had been often tested, this inferior 
number, of four against seven, looked forward to 
a victory with great confidence. Early in tEe 
morning they passed the ground w^here the enemy 
encamped the preceding night. 

Colonel Boyd, unapprehensive of danger, had 
halted at a farm on the north side of Kettle 
Creek. His horses were turned out to forage 
among the reeds in the swamp ; some bullocks 
were killed, and corn parched to refresh his 
troops, who had been on short allowance for three 
days. The encampment was formed on the edge 
of the farm next to the creek, on an open piece 
of ground, flanked on two sides by the cane- 
swamp. The second officer in command was 



THE BRITISH SURPRISED. 153 



Lieutenant-colonel Moore, of North Carolina, 
who, it is said, possessed neither courage nor 
military skill : the third in command, Major 
Spurgen, is said to have acted with bravery, and 
gave some evidence of military talents. 

After the Americans had marched three or four 
miles, the enemy's drums w^ere heard to beat. 
They halted for a few minutes, examined their 
guns, and primed them afresh. Captain McCall 
had been ordered in front to examine the enemy's 
situation and condition. He reported the situation 
of the encampment and the nature of the adjacent 
ground. The enemy were, apparently, unsuspi- 
cious of danger, he having passed their flank 
within musket-shot, and in full view. Satisfied 
upon these points, the Americans advanced to 
the attack. As the camp was approached, the 
enemy's pickets fired and retreated. Boyd or- 
dered the line to be formed in the rear of his 
camp, and advanced at the head of one hundred 
men, who were sheltered by a fence and some 
fallen timber. The American centre filed ofi" a 
little to the right, to gain the advantage of higher 
ground. Boyd contended for the fence with 
bravery, but was overpowered and compelled to 
order a retreat to the main body. On his retreat 
he fell under two wounds through the body, and 
one through the thigh, which proved mortal. The 
other two divisions were embarrassed in passing 
through the cane, but by this time had reached 



154 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



their points of destination, and the battle became 
warm, close, and general, and some of the enemy 
who had not formed fled into the cane and passed 
over the creek, leaving behind them their horses, 
baggage, and some of their arms. Colonel Clarke 
observed a rising ground on the opposite side of 
the creek, in the rear of the enemy's right, on 
which he believed they would attempt to form. 
After a warm contest, which lasted an hour, the 
enemy retreated through the swamp over the 
creek. 

Clarke ordered his division to follow him 
across the creek ; at the same moment his horse 
was shot, and fell under him ; he was quickly re- 
mounted, and fortunately fell into a path which 
led to a fording-place on the creek, and gained 
the side of the hill. His division had not heard^ 
or had not understood the order, in consequence 
of which not more than one-fourth of it followed 
him. While Major Spurgen was forming the 
enemy upon one side of the hill, Colonel Clarke 
attacked him upon the other side, which gave 
intimation to the remainder of his division, by 
which he was soon joined. Colonels Pickens and 
Dooley pressed through the swamp with the main 
body in pursuit, and when they emerged from the 
cane, the battle was again renewed with great 
vigour. For a considerable time the contest was 
obstinate and bloody, and the issue doubtful. The 
Americans finally gained the summit of the hill, 



BRILLIANT VICTORY. 155 



when the enemy began to retreat in some confu- 
sion, and fled from the field of battle. 

This engagement lasted one hour and forty-five 
minutes, and for the last half hour was close and 
general. Great credit is given to Colonel Clarke 
for his foresight in speedily occupying the rising 
ground on the west side of the creek. Consider- 
ing the inequality of the troops in point of military 
experience and equipment, and that the numbers 
in the ranks of the enemy were seven to four, 
the result of this engagement reflects great 
honour and credit on the American officers and 
soldiers who were engaged in it, and it was justly 
considered a brilliant victory. 

About seventy of the enemy were killed and 
died of their wounds, and seventy-five were taken 
prisoners, including the wounded who could be 
carried off" the ground. The American loss was 
nine killed, and twenty-three wounded — two mor- 
tally. The prisoners that Boyd had taken at 
the skirmish on Savannah River were in charge 

a 

of a guard in advance, which consisted of thirty- 
three men, including officers, with orders, in case 
of disaster, to move towards Augusta. When 
the guard heard the result of the engagement, 
they voluntarily surrendered themselves prisoners 
to those whom they had in captivity, upon a 
promise of their influence for pardon and permis- 
sion to return home. This promise was complied 
with, upon condition that they would take the 



156 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



oath of allegiance to the American govern- 
ment. 

After the action was ended, Colonel Pickens 
went to Colonel Bojd and tendered him any ser- 
vices which his present situation would authorize, 
and observed, that as his wounds appeared to be 
mortal, he would recommend those preparations 
which approaching death required. Boyd thanked 
him for his civilities, and inquired what had been 
the result of the battle. Upon being informed 
that victory was with the Americans, he ob- 
served that it would have been otherwise if he 
had not fallen. He said that he had marched 
from his rendezvous with eight hundred men ; 
that one hundred of that number were killed and 
wounded, or had deserted at Savannah , River ; 
and that on the morning of the action, he had 
seven hundred men under his command. He had 
the promise of Colonel Campbell, that McGirth, 
with five hundred more, should join him on Little 
River, about six miles from the field of battle, 
on that evening or the ensuing morning. He con- 
cluded by saying that he had but a few hours to 
live, and desired that Colonel Pickens would 
leave two men with him to furnish him with 
water, and bury his body after he died. He also 
asked Colonel Pickens to write to Mrs. Boyd, in- 
forming her of his fate, and to send her a few 
articles which he had about his person. He ex- 



FATE OF THE INSURGENTS. 157 



pired early in the night, and his requests were 
faithfully complied with. 

The insuro-ents taken at Kettle Creek were con- 
veyed to South Carolina and tried by the laws of 
the state ; found guilty of treason, and sentenced 
to death. Five of the most atrocious offenders 
suffered accordingly ; the others were pardoned. 

Of those who fled from the scene of action, 
some took refuge in Florida ; some in the Creek 
and Cherokee nations ; and a remnant, under 
command of Colonel Moore, retreated to Augusta, 
where they met with nothing but humiliation, 
scorn, and neglect. 

In the engagements at Carr's Fort and Kettle 
Creek, the Americans took as booty about six 
hundred horses and their equipments, with a 
quantity of arms, accoutrements, and clothing. 
Shortly after this action. Colonel Twiggs, and 
Lieutenant-colonel John Mcintosh, with some 
militia from Richmond county, surprised one of 
the British outposts at Herbert's, consisting of 
seventy men ; killed and wounded several, and 
compelled the remainder to surrender. 



14 



158 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Campbell evacuates Augusta — Lincoln proposes the recovery 
of Georgia — Ash defeated at Brier Creek — Force of the Bri- 
tish in Georgia — Campbell leaves for England — Censure of 
Ash by a court of inquiry — Embarrassed condition of Lincoln 
— Shameful treatment of the American prisoners — Lincoln 
marches into Georgia — Provost advances towards Charleston 
■ — Battle at Stono River — Cooper defeats a British detach- 
ment — Spencer captures a British cutter — Sir James Wright 
resumes the government of Georgia. 

Upon the approach of General John Ash with 
a body of North Carolina militia to reinforce 
General Elbert, Colonel Campbell precipitately 
abandoned Augusta, and fell back to ^ fortified 
camp at Hudson's Ferry, about fifty miles from 
Savannah. 

Ash passed the river at Augusta on the 28th 
of February, and pursued Campbell as far as 
Brier Creek, where he halted and encamped. His 
force was seventeen hundred men. General Lin- 
coln was encamped at Purysburg with three thou- 
sand men ; General Rutherford at Black Swamp 
with seven hundred ; and General Williamson at 
Augusta with twelve hundred. By concentrat- 
ing these scattered forces, General Lincoln be- 
lieved he would be sufficiently strong to commence 
active operations against the enemy. A council 
was therefore summoned to meet at General Ru- 



ash's dangerous position. 159 



therford's quarters on the 1st of March. At this 
council, it was inquired of Ash if his position 
was secure, and such that his troops could act 
with the best advantage? General Ash ex- 
pressed himself confidently, as to the safety of his 
command, against any force it was in the power 
of the enemy to bring against it. 

He observed that the enemy appeared to be 
afraid of him, believing his numbers to be greater 
than they were ; he only asked for a detachment 
of artillery with two field-pieces, which General 
Lincoln ordered to his assistance. 

Strange as it may appear, while Ash was thus 
boasting of the complete security of his troops, 
they were encamped in a position the best cal- 
culated for their defeat of any he could possibly 
have chosen. On the left of his army was- a 
deep creek, on the right a lagune, and on the 
rear the Savannah River ; while the front ofi'ered 
an open and uninterrupted entrance to the enemy.' 

Always prompt to take any advantage of any 
unskilful conduct on the part of his adversaries, 
Lieutenant-colonel Campbell determined to strike 
at Ash before Williamson — who was already on 
the march to join him — should be able to come 
to his assistance. Masking his real design by 
advancing a battalion of the seventy-first regi- 
ment and a party of South Carolina loyalists to 
Buck Creek, three miles south of Brier Creek 
bridge, he ordered Lieutenant-colonel Provostj 



160 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



■with a force of regulars and provincials amount- 
ing to some seventeen hundred men, to march by 
a circuitous route of about forty miles, gain the 
rear of General Ash, and surprise and attack 
him in his camp. 

In the mean time, Ash, having learned that 
Campbell was manoeuvring on his front, sent out 
various detachments to reconnoitre, until he had 
reduced his force in camp to eight hundred men. 

From Williamson's advanced parties Ash ob- 
tained the first intelligence that Provost was 
approaching his rear. These startling tidings 
being soon afterward confirmed by Colonel Smith, 
who was in command of the baggage-guard some 
eight miles up the river. General Ash ordered the 
beat to arms. Strange as it may appear, at 
that late hour cartridges were to be distributed 
to the militia, some of whom had rifles, some shot- 
guns, a few had muskets, while some were with- 
out arms. 

Thus equipped, without any preconcerted plan, 
General Ash ordered his troops into the line of 
battle in three divisions; the right, under the 
command of Colonel Youns^, and the centre under 
the command of General Bryant. The left was 
committed to the care of General Elbert and 
Lieutenant-colonel John Mcintosh, and consisted 
of about sixty continental troops and one hun- 
dred and fifty Georgia militia, to which a light 
field-piece was attached. 



BATTLE OF BRIER CREEK. 161 



At three o'clock p. M. the enemy's advance- 
guard attacked and drove back the American 
pickets, and took some prisoners, who gave in- 
formation that the Americans were unadvised of 
an enemy in force being near. Provost made his 
disposition for action : the light infantry with 
two field-pieces was formed on the right, with 
orders to penetrate by a road leading toward the 
American camp : the centre was composed of the 
second battalion of the seventy-first regiment, 
with some rangers and Carolina loyalists on its 
left, and with a howitzer and two field-pieces in 
front ; the left consisted of one hundred and fifty 
dragoons, with orders to turn the American right ; 
the reserve was formed four hundred yards in 
the rear, composed of three companies of grena- 
diers and a troop of dragoons ; and fifty rifle- 
men were placed in ambuscade at a pass, by 
which it was supposed the Americans might turn 
their left and attack their rear. At four p. M. 
the British moved forward and commenced the 
attack. 

When General Ash had formed his line, he 
advanced about a quarter of a mile in front of 
his encampment, with his left at the creek, and 
his right extending within half a mile of the river 
swamp. The British, advancing in three columns 
of six in front, opened their fire at the distance of 
one hundred and fifty yards from their cannon. 
The American centre, which was in advance, be- 

14* 



162 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



gan to retreat in about five minutes, and the right 
broke and ran the instant they were attacked. 
Colonel Young, who commanded the right, said 
that it was not his intention to retreat ; but, per- 
ceiving that the enemy intended to turn his right, 
he wished to file off to the right to prevent it ; 
but his troops construed his intentions into an 
order to retreat. The centre and right fled in 
the utmost confusion. General Elbert, with the 
left, maintained his ground with so much gal- 
lantry, that the British reserve was ordered to 
support .their right; and, notwithstanding the 
great superiority of the enemy, Elbert supported 
the conflict until every avenue of a retreat was 
cut off. Finding that further resistance would-be 
temerity, he ordered his gallant little band to 
ground their arms and surrender. Nearly the 
whole of his command was killed, wounded, or 
made prisoners. 

The Americans who fled entered the river 
swamp, which was two or three miles in extent, 
to escape from the enemy ; such of them as could 
swim crossed the river, but many who made the 
attempt were drowned. 

The American loss was estimated at one hun- 
dred and fifty killed and drowned ; twenty-seven 
officers, and one hundred and sixty-two non-com- 
missioned officers and privates, were taken prison- 
ers ; seven pieces of field artillery, a quantity of 
ammunition, provisions, and baggage, and five 



Lincoln's plans disconcekted. 163 



hundred stand of arms, were lost or fell into the 
possession of the victors. The British loss was 
one commissioned officer and fifteen privates 
killed and wounded. Generals Ash and Bryant, 
with tAvo or three hundred of the fugitives, were 
stopped at Bee's Creek bridge, twenty miles from 
the scene of action, in the evening of the same 
day, by Captain Peter Horry, who was marching 
with a detachment to join the camp; some with 
and some without arms. 

The loss of General Elbert and his command, 
of Neal's dragoons, and many of Pirkins's regi- 
ment of North Carolina, was seriously calami- 
tous to Georgia, which had more than one thou- 
sand men, including nearly all the regular troops 
of the state, in captivity with the British. 

The defeat of Ash disconcerted the plans of 
General Lincoln. If the army had been concen- 
trated, as was intended, the American forces, in- 
cluding the reinforcements about to join them, 
would have amounted to seven thousand men ; 
an army sufficient, as it was believed, to have 
driven the British troops out of Georgia. The 
wavering and disaffected would have joined the 
American standard, and South Carolina would 
not have been invaded. The parties of militia, 
who were on their march to join the army, heard 
of the disaster and returned home ; wdiile many 
who were previously undecided in their politics 
now joined the enemy. 



164 HISTORY OP GEORGIA. 



The different corps composing the British army 
in Georgia amounted to upward of four thou- 
sand men. Five thousand additional troops were 
daily expected from New York, under General 
Vaughan. After these arrived, the capital of 
South Carolina was intended as the object of 
future operations. The command of the southern 
British army was offered to Lieutenant-colonel 
Campbell, but he declined it. He appears to 
have been dissatisfied with General Provost's hav- 
ing taken the chief command and government 
of Georgia, after he had made the conquest. 

Colonel Campbell was an officer at all points ; 
circumspect, quick, brave, and profound in mili- 
tary knowledge. He was beloved for his courtesy 
and humanity, and admired for the elegance of 
his manners. The departure of such an officer 
from the southern states excited joyful sensa- 
tion among the friends of freedom and independ- 
ence. He sailed soon after for England. 

In addition to the British force already stated, 
five hundred Indians were assembled on the Ala- 
*tamaha River, and there was a proffer of all the 
aid of the Creek and Cherokee Indians, under 
the influence of Stuart and Cameron, to engage 
in any enterprise which might be required of 
them. 

Hudson's Ferry and Paris Mill were well for- 
tified, cannon mounted at each, and strongly 
garrisoned. Ebenezer and Sister's ferries were 



GENERAL ASH CENSURED. 165 



put in a state of defence, and all the passes of 
Savannah River secured by the British. The 
light troops were held prepared to move to any 
point, on short notice. 

After the defeat of Ash at Brier Creek, that 
general, finding he was viewed by all grades 
of the army with contempt and disrespect, de- 
manded a court of inquiry, which was granted. 

The court was convened on the 9th day of 
March. The conclusions they came to, after 
having maturely considered the matter before 
them, were, — " That General Ash did not take 
all the necessary precautions, which he ought to 
have done, to secure his camp and obtain timely 
intelligence of the movements and approach of 
the enemy." 

While Lincoln was thus, most unfortunately, 
thwarted in his project to attempt the recovery 
of Georgia, the British army received the ex- 
pected reinforcements from New York. Shortly 
after this, the forces of the American general 
were rendered still less efi'ective ; the term of 
service for which the North Carolina militia had 
been drafted having expired, without any imme- 
diate prospect of others arriving to replace them. 
In this condition of things several of the inhabit- 
ants of Georgia, who had left their families, re- 
presented to General Lincoln that all their pro- 
perty had been plundered and destroyed by the 
enemy, and desired him to point out to them any 



166 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



possible means by which their families could be 
secured against want. They expressed their will- 
ingness to yield to the loss of property and 
every other privation, if their wives and families 
could be guarantied the necessaries of life ; but 
that they should be left to suffer from the want 
of food, and under the continued insolence of 
their enemy, was rather more than their feelings 
could be expected to endure. The general con- 
sented that such men as had families should 
return to their homes, and remain quiet until a 
change should take place. 

Some of the Georgia prisoners, who were ex- 
changed for a like number sent from Charleston, 
were so much emaciated when they arrived in 
camp, that they w^ere obliged to be carried from 
the boats in which they wxre brought from the 
prison^ships. They complained bitterly of the 
ill-treatment which they had experienced on 
board these filthy floating dungeons, of which 
their countenances and emaciated bodies ex- 
hibited condemning testimony. They asserted 
that they had been fed on condemned pork, which 
nauseated the stomach, and oatmeal so rotten 
that swine would not have fed on it ; that the 
staff officers and the members of council from 
Savannah shared in common with the soldiery ; 
even the venerable Bryan was obliged to partake 
such repasts, or die of hunger. 

The Jews of Savannah were generally favour- 



SUFFERINGS OF PRISONERS. 167 



able to the American cause, and among this 
persuasion was Mordecai Sheftall, commissary- 
general, and his son, who was his deputy ; they 
were confined in common with the other prison- 
ers, and by way of contempt to their offices and 
religion, condemned pork was given them for the 
animal part of their subsistence. In consequence 
of such food, and other new devices of mal-treat- 
ment, five or six died daily. Their bodies were 
conveyed from the prison-ships to the nearest 
marsh and buried in the mud, whence they were 
soon exhumed by the washing of the tides ; 
and at low water, the prisoners beheld the car- 
rion crows picking the bones of their departed 
companions. 

General Lincoln, having removed his quarters 
from Purysburg to Black Swamp, was soon after- 
ward reinforced by seven hundred militia from 
North Carolina. His army being thus increased 
to five thousand men, he determined once more 
to attempt the recovery of Georgia. He left 
General Moultrie, with one thousand men, to 
defend Purysburg and the passes of the Savan- 
nah River, with orders to maintain his post as 
long as possible, and if the enemy should force 
their way toward Charleston to retreat before 
them, skirmishing with their front and destroying 
the boats and bridges on the way. 

On the 20th of April, Lincoln, with two thou- 
sand men, marched for Augusta. Five days 



168 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



after his departure, General Moultrie received 
intelligence that the enemy were in motion, and 
that some parties of them had passed over into 
South Carolina below the town of Savannah. 

Moultrie filed off toward Charleston for the 
purpose of keeping in the enemy's front, and 
sent an express to General Lincoln to apprize 
him of their movements, and his intention to 
harass and retard their progress, until he received 
reinforcements. General Provost's army consisted 
of two thousand chosen troops, and seven hundred 
loyalists and Indians. Moultrie, to oppose him, 
had but one thousand militia ; and, instead of his 
numbers increasing, his troops wasted away by 
desertion. When he had retreated to Ashley 
River Ferr}'', he had only six hundred naen. 

Lincoln, Imagining that Provost only intended 
a feint on Charleston, to divert him from his pur- 
pose toward Savannah, continued his march on 
the south side of the Savannah River, and sent 
three hundred light troops and the legion of Pu- 
laski, which had been stationed at the ridge forty- 
five miles north-east from Augusta, to reinforce 
Moultrie. 

Every advantageous pass was disputed with the 
enemy by the latter officer, and he so effectually 
retarded their progress, by frequent skirmishes, 
that they did not reach Charleston until the 11th 
of May. 

When Provost appeared before Charleston, he 



MILITARY MOVEMENTS. 169 



made the apparent dispositions for a siege, and 
demanded a surrender. Calculating that Lincoln 
■was in pursuit of the enemy, it was deemed im- 
portant to gain time. The reinforcement sent 
by General Lincoln and the legion of Pulaski 
had arrived ; and the greatest exertions were 
used to place the town in a state of defence. 
Twenty-four hours were spent in negotiations, 
which terminated in bidding the enemy defiance. 
Having failed in his expectations, and fearing 
that Lincoln would fall upon his rear. Provost 
retreated precipitately over Ashley Ferry, and 
formed a fortified encampment on Stone River, 
within reach of some small armed vessels and 
transports, by which he could secure a retreat 
toward Savannah, if he should be pressed by a 
force with which he was unable to contend. He 
collected all the boats which fell in his way, to 
facilitate the transportation of his troops from 
one island to another, or through the inland navi- 
gation, as might be advisable. 

When Lincoln arrived at Ashley River, he was 
doubtful of the issue of a general engagement 
with the enemy ; for, although he was superior to 
his antagonist in numbers, he was far inferior in 
the quality of his troops and equipments, and was 
aware of the certain consequences of a defeat. 
It was, therefore, necessary for him to proceed 
with caution, and not risk a battle, if the result 
appeared in the least doubtful. He was appre- 

15 



170 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



hensive of the consequences of drawing his forces 
to one point, for a general attack, and leaving 
Charleston unprotected ; and to prevent the 
enemy from retreating by land to Savannah, he 
was obliged to guard the passes by strong de- 
tachments. Thus situated, the two armies lay 
within thirty miles distance, for forty days, 
watching the motions of each other. 

The British army was encamped on John's 
Island, near Stono Ferry. To preserve a com- 
munication with the main land, they had con- 
structed some redoubts and lines of communica- 
tion, on which some field artillery was advanta- 
geously placed, with an abatis in front, on the 
main land at the ferry, and a garrison of eight 
hundred men to defend it, under Lieutenant- 
colonel Maitland. In the event of its being 
attacked, the main encampment was sufficiently 
near to afford reinforcements. 

At length, on the 20th of June, an attack was 
made on the redoubts at the ferry. General 
Moultrie, with a body of the Charleston militia, 
was to have made a feint on the British encamp- 
ment, from James's Island; but from the diffi- 
culty of procuring boats, he was unable to reach 
the place of destination in time to make the di- 
version required. When the Americans advanced 
to the attack, two companies of the seventy-first re- 
giment of Scots sallied out to support the pickets; 
Lieutenant-colonel Henderson, with the light in- 



THE BRITISH RETREAT. lYl 



fantry, charged them, and only nine of their 
number returned within their intrenchments. All 
the men at the field-pieces between their redoubts 
were killed or wounded. Major Handle j, who 
commanded the remnant of the Georgia conti- 
nental troops, was attached to Colonel Malmady's 
command, and carried that part of the British 
works against which they acted. The failure of 
General Moultrie in the diversion assigned to him 
enabled General Provost to reinforce the redoubts, 
and made it necessary for General Lincoln to 
withdraw his troops ; a general sortie was made 
on the retiring Americans ; but the light infantry, 
commanded by Malmady and Henderson, held 
the enemy in check, and enabled the Americans 
to remove their wounded, and retire in good order. 
Soon after the action at Stono, the British 
commenced their retreat, and passed from island 
to island, until they arrived at Port Royal, where 
Provost established a post with eight hundred 
men, under the orders of Lieutenant-colonel Mait- 
land, and thence returned to Savannah. 
• "While Lincoln was employed in South Carolina 
against Provost, Colonels Dooley and Clarke were 
actively engaged in defending the frontiers of 
Georgia ; and Colonels Twiggs, Few, and Jones 
were watching the British outposts, to cut off 
supplies of provisions from the country. Private 
armed vessels were also employed along the sea- 
coast. 



172 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



On the 24th of June, Captain Spencer, who 
commanded an American privateer, surprised 
Colonel Cruger and a party of British officers at 
a house on the river Medway, and took them 
prisoners of war. 

On the 28th, Colonel Twiggs, being informed 
that a detachment of forty mounted grenadiers 
under Captain Muller was advancing to attack 
him, sent forward Major Cooper with thirty men 
to meet the enemy. Cooper formed his command 
across a rice-dam upon which Muller was advanc- 
ing, and after a short, but fierce conflict, during 
which Muller was mortally wounded, the whole 
of the enemy were either killed, wounded, or 
takep prisoners. The American loss was only 
two officers wounded. 

The situation of the wounded required the as- 
sistance of a surgeon, and Savannah being the 
nearest place where one could be obtained, Wil- 
liam Myddleton offered his services to carry a 
flag for that purpose. Captain Muller died be- 
fore the surgeon's arrival. While Myddleton was 
in Provost's quarters, a British officer requested 
him to narrate the circumstances attending the 
skirmish. After he had given the particulars, the 
officer observed, that " If an angel was to tell 
him that Captain Muller, who had served twenty- 
one years in the king's guards, had been defeated 
by an equal number of rebels, he would disbelieve 
it." Myddleton requested the officer's address, 



BRITISH VESSEL CAPTURED. 178 



and observed that they were not then on equal 
terms, but hoped to have it in his power at a 
future time to call him to an account for his 
rudeness. Colonel Provost rebuked the officer 
for using such improper language to the bearer 
of a flag. 

On the 3d of August, Captain Samuel Spen- 
cer sailed into Sapelo Sound, when one of the 
enemy's vessels, of six guns, ran down and at- 
tacked him. The engagement was well supported 
for fifteen minutes, when the enemy was boarded 
and surrendered. Spencer had one man wounded : 
the British, one killed, five wounded, and twelve 
made prisoners. Spencer divided his crew, and 
collected a number of negroes and other pro- 
perty, which he carried in safety to the owners, 
"who had fled to Carolina. The prisoners were 
paroled and landed on Sapelo Island. 

Ten days previous to the above gallant little 
affair, Sir James AYright returned from England 
and resumed the government of Georgia ; but he 
was not suffered to remain long in the quiet per- 
formance of his official duties. 



15* 



174 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

France acknowledges the independence of the United States 
— D'Estaing agrees to co-operate with Lincoln — British pre- 
parations for defence — French forces disembarked — D'Es- 
taing demands the surrender of Savannah — Truce granted 
— Provost reinforced — Siege of Savannah — Assault — Re- 
pulse of the combined armies — Jasper wounded — Count 
Pulaski wounded — Force of the allied army — Force of the 
British — Siege raised — Lincoln retreats to Ebenezer. 

While Georgia was thus ineffectually strug- 
gling in the grasp of her conquerors, an event 
occurred which, while it roused the timid and 
recalled the wavering, inspired all those who still 
clung fearlessly to the cause of freedom, with the 
liveliest hopes of eventual success. 

France acknowledged the independence of the 
United States, and on the 6th of February, 1778, 
negotiated with the American commissioners at 
Paris a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive. 

Having thus become a party to the war, pre- 
parations were made to render the colonies that 
assistance which, from the increased efforts of 
Great Britain to recover her lost authority, was 
now becoming imperatively necessary. 

A fleet was fitted out, and an army sent to the 
"West Indies, under the orders of the Count 
D'Estaing. They made the conquest of the 



PROPOSED OPERATIONS. 175 



islands of St. Vincent and Grenada, and retired 
to Cape Francois. 

As the recovery of Georgia was of the utmost 
importance, the co-operation of the French forces 
in the West Indies was solicited for that purpose. 
Count D'Estaing immediately returned a favour- 
able response, and sailed from Cape Francois on 
the 20th of August, 1779, after despatching to 
Charleston two ships of the line and three frigates 
in advance, to concert a plan of operations with 
the American general. 

General Lincoln made every exertion to collect 
an army, and was sanguine in his hopes of suc- 
cess in the execution of the concerted plan. The 
11th of September was the time appointed for the 
rendezvous of the two armies at Savannah, and 
preparations were made to invest the place. 

The militia took the field with alacrity, sup- 
posing that nothing further would be necessary 
than to march to Savannah and demand a surren- 
der. Colonel Maitland, with eight hundred men, 
retained his position at Beaufort, and General 
Lincoln had fixed his quarters at Sheldon, to pre- 
vent them from spreading into the country to 
obtain provisions : thus occupied. General Lin- 
coln could not march to Savannah until the 
French troops were ready to land. 

As soon as the probability of an attack in force 
became known at Savannah, Provost called in 
his outposts, and endeavoured to make his fortifi- 



176 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



cations as strong as possible. Thirteen redoubts 
and fifteen batteries were completed, and mounted 
with seventj-six pieces of cannon. The guns 
and batteries were manned by the seamen from 
the ships of war, transports, and merchant ves- 
sels in the harbour. A number of field-pieces, 
protected bj intrenchmentSj were placed in re- 
serve. 

In the mean time, General Mcintosh pressed 
forward from Augusta toward Savannah accom- 
panied by the Infantry under his command, and 
a body of cavalry under Count Pulaski. Before 
the enemy were apprized of his approach, the 
latter cut off one of their pickets, killed, wounded^ 
and captured eleven men, and opened a commu- 
nication to the sea-shore. 

Mcintosh advanced toward Ogechee Ferry^ 
but so soon as a body of French troops had 
landed, he returned and halted three miles from 
Savannah, until Lincoln should arrive. 

On the 6th of September, the French fleet ap- 
peared off Savannah bar ; but it was not until the 
morning of the 16th, that Count D'Estaing was 
able to approach within three miles of the town, 
and demand a surrender. 

In answer to the summons,. Provost proposed a 
suspension of hostilities for twenty- four hours, to 
which D'Estaing agreed. The latter had not 
then formed a junction with the American forces 
under Lincoln, and was entirely ignorant of the 



BRITISH GARRISON REINFORCED. 177 

advantages wliicli would have accrued from an 
immediate attack. 

Lincoln reached Miilen's plantation on the 
Ogechee the same day, and proceeded directly to 
pay his respects to the Count D'Estaing, and fix 
on the plan of future operations. The latter 
suggested that no time should be lost, as it was 
necessary for the fleet to leaye the coast as early 
as possible, from the dangerous character of the 
hurricanes which usually visited it at that season 
of the year. Measures were thus precipitated, 
which, under other and more fortunate circum- 
stances, would have been arranged with greater 
coolness and system. 

General Provost exercised great military judg- 
ment in soliciting twenty-four hours for conside- 
ration, because he calculated with great certainty 
that within that time Colonel Maitland would 
arrive with eight hundred troops from Beaufort. 
There is but little doubt that on this event rested 
all his hopes of saving the garrison. When the 
fleet first appeared off the coast, the enemy had 
but twenty-three pieces of cannon mounted upon 
the redoubts and batteries, to defend an extent 
by land and water of near three miles. 

On the evening of the 16th, Maitland arrived 
at Dawfuskie ; guided by some negro fisherman, 
he was enabled to avoid the Savannah River, and 
by passing through various creeks in small boats, 
gained the town in safety. 



178 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



The acquisition of this formidable reinforce- 
ment effected a complete change in the condition 
of the desponding garrison. A signal was made, 
and three cheers given, which rang from one end 
of the town to the other. In the afternoon of 
the 17th, Provost notified D'Estaincr of his deter- 
mination to defend the place. 

Mortified at receiving a defiance when he was 
confidently anticipating a surrender, and the fa- 
vourable moment for reducing the fortress by 
assault having been suffered to pass away, no 
prospect of success now offered but the tedious 
operations of a siege. This was what the enemy 
wished. The principal engineer had declared 
that if the allied army would once resort to the 
spade, he would pledge himself for the success of 
the defence. 

To prevent the French frigates from coming so 
near the town as to aid the operations by land, 
two ships and four transports were sunk in a 
narrow part of the channel below, while similar 
obstructions were placed above the town, to pre- 
vent the galleys which passed up the North river 
from assailing them in that direction. One of the 
frigates and two galleys anchored near the wrecks ; 
but the enemy's guns, mounted upon batteries 
forty feet above the surface of the water, soon 
compelled them to retire. 

From this time until the evening of the 7th of 
October, the siege was vigorously pressed by the 



SIEGE OF SAVANNAH. 179 



allied forces, and as vigorously resisted on the 
part of the enemy. ** 

Count D'Estaing having been a month on the 
American coast, and the fleet close in shore, his 
naval officers remonstrated with him on the dan- 
gerous situation it was in, and the hazard of being 
attacked by the British fleet while theirs w^as in 
bad condition, and while many of their officers 
and men were on shore. To these remonstrances 
were added the commencement of an extraordina- 
ry disease in the French camp, and the approach 
of the hurricane season, usually so destructive on 
the southern sea-coast of the United States. 
These considerations determined Count D'Estaing 
to call a council of war, in which it w'as the opi- 
nion of the engineers that it would require ten 
days more to work into the enemy's lines ; upon 
which it was determined to try to carry them hj 
an assault. 

Accordingly, on the 8th of October, General 
Lincoln issued his orders for the attack, which 
was to be made at four o'clock the following. 



morning. 



He divided the infantry into two bodies ; the 
first, consisting of the light troops under Colonel 
Laurens, to which the grenadiers were attached. 
The second, composed of the continental bat- 
talions and the Charleston militia. • 

Pulaski, who commanded the cavalry, had 
orders to penetrate the enemy's lines between 



180 HISTORY OF GEORGIA, 



the battery on the left of the Spring Hill redoubty 
and th^ next toward the river. He was to be 
supported bj the light troops and grenadiers, ana 
reinforced, if necessary, by the first South Caro- 
lina regiment. 

The militia of the first and second brigades^ 
together with General Williamson's and the two 
battalions of Charleston militia, were ordered to 
the trenches, and to subject themselves to the 
commanding ofiicer there. Previous to this, how- 
ever, five hundred of the militia were to be 
drafted and placed under the command of Gene- 
ral Huger, who was directed to march to the left 
of the enemy's lines, and make his attack as 
near to the river as possible. This was intended 
only as a feint, but Huger was authorized, if an 
opportunity offered, to convert it into- a positive 
attack and push into the town. 

On the night of the 8th, a sergeant of the 
Charleston grenadiers deserted, and communi- 
cated to the British general the plan of attack and 
the time when it was to be made. Being ap- 
prized that the Spring Hill redoubt and batteries 
was the point where the principal effort was to 
be sustained, and that the menace on the left of 
the works by Huger was but a feint, he made 
his dispositions accordingly. He removed the 
principal part of his force from the left of his 
works to the right, near to the Spring Hill, and 



ASSAULT ON SAVANNAH. 181 



placed that part of the defences under the orders 
of Lieutenant-colonel Maitland. 

By one of those strange fatalities which 
seemed to accompany every attempt made by 
the Americans to release Georgia from the grasp 
of the British, the attack, which was ordered to 
take place at four o'clock on the morning of the 
9th, was delayed until clear daylight. An op- 
portunity was thus afforded the garrison of di- 
recting their fire upon the assailants with terrible 
effect, while the latter were in the act of advanc- 
ing toward the works. The French columns 
passed the abatis, crowded into the moat, and 
ascended to the town under a galling fire in front 
and flank. The carnage was awful, but no useful 
impression made. 

Lieutenant-colonel Laurens, with the light 
troops, advanced by the left of the French column, 
attacked Maitland's redoubt, and succeeded in 
gaining the parapet, where Lieutenants Bush and 
Hume set the colours of the second regiment of 
South Carolina : both those gallant officers were 
immediately shot down. Lieutenant Gray sup- 
ported the colours, and was mortally wounded. 
Sergeant Jasper, seeing Gray fall, seized the 
colours and supported them, until he also received 
a wound, which proved mortal. At this point, 
the assault and resistance were of the most daring 
character. 

Mcintosh, at the head of the left column of 

16 



182 HISTORY or GEORGIA. 



the An].erican troops, forced his way into the 
ditch of the works north of the Maitland redoubt. 

Count D'Estaing, early in the assault, received 
a wound in the arm, but remained at his post 
until a wound in his thigh made it necessary to 
bear him off the field. 

Count Pulaski, while attempting to pass the 
works into the town, received a cannon-shot in 
the groin, of which he fell near the abatis. 
Huger made his attack as directed, and having 
accomplished the object of his orders, retired 
with the loss of twenty-eight men. 

Finding it impossible to make any impression 
upon the works of the enemy, the commanding 
generals ordered a retreat. On the retreat, it 
was recollected by his corps that Count Pulaski 
had been left near the abatis ; some of his men 
immediately forced their way through the firing 
and bore him oft", though the heroic Pole was 
wounded mortally. 

The loss of the allied army in this most rash 
but spirited assault was nearly eleven hundred 
men killed and wounded. Among the latter 
were the Count D'Estaing, Major-general De 
Fontange, the Chevalier D'Ernonville, and Count 
Pulaski. D'Ernonville was taken prisoner, his 
arm being broken by a ball. If he had consented 
to an amputation, he would probably have sur- 
vived. AVhen urged to the measure by General 
Provost, he refused; saying, that with but one 



THE SIEGE RAISED. 183 



hand, lie could not serve his pi^ince in the field, 
and if so disabled, life was not worth preserving. 
He died on the 25th of December, and was 
buried with all the honours of war. 

The loss of the British during the assault was 
only fifty-five killed and wounded. How many 
they lost during the siege is not known. 

The combined force employed against Savan- 
nah was four thousand nine hundred and fifty 
men. That of the enemy, twenty-eight hun- 
dred and fifty, including Indians and armed 
slaves. 

General Lincoln urged that Count D'Estaing 
would agree to continue the siege of Savannah ; 
but the reasons which the count gave for propos- 
ing the assault still obtained : it was further urged, 
that the troops of France w^ere reduced by the 
consequences of the siege, in killed and wounded, 
and by disease, which was increasing, to less 
than fifteen hundred men fit for duty, on the 
18th of October ; and that the American troops 
under General Lincoln did not exceed twelve 
hundred effectives. In addition, there were good 
reasons for a belief that the British fleet at New 
York, with an army on board, was preparing for 
a southern expedition ; and in the present sickly 
condition of the crews of the fleet, and the re- 
duced force of the combined troops, who were 
not more than equal to the besieged, it would be 
highly imprudent to remain and risk the conse- 



184 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



quences. The count notified General Lincoln of 
his determination to raise the siege. 

General Lincoln retreated to Ebenezer, and on 
the 19th of October he left the army for Charles- 
ton, with orders to march to that place. 

There was great dissatisfaction expressed by 
the citizens of Georgia at the determination of 
D'Estaing to raise the siege. Many of them had 
been under British protection, and having re- 
sumed their arms in opposition to the royal go- 
vernment, they were apprehensive of the con- 
sequences if they again fell into the enemy's 
hands. Notwithstanding these murmurs, General 
Lincoln by prudent management silenced the 
expressions of discontent, and the allied forces 
separated with mutual assurances of esteem and 
aflfection. 



HEROIC DEVOTION. 185 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Heroic instances of devotion to freedom — The grenadiers of 
Count Dillon — Anecdote of Lieutenant Lloyd — Sergeant 
Jasper — His daring bravery at Fort Moultrie — His roving 
commission — Captures ten men near Savannah — Presented 
with a sword by Governor Rutledge — Plants the colours on 
Spring Hill redoubt — Is mortally wounded — Count Pulaski 
— His early life^ — Confederates with others for the redemp- 
tion of Poland — Captures Stanislaus — Seeks refuge in France 
Appointed a brigadier-general in the American service — His 
death. 

If the siege of Savannah was unfortunate in 
many respects, it yet afforded many cheering 
instances of heroic devotion to the cause of free- 
dom. 

Count Dillon, commander of the Irish brigade 
in the service of France, and who led on the 
third column of the allied armies in their assault 
of the British garrison, anxious that his regiment 
should signalize itself, offered one hundred guineas 
as a reward to the first of his grenadiers that 
should plant a fascine in the fosse, which was 
exposed to the whole fire of the garrison. Not 
one offered to advance. The count, mortified 
and disappointed beyond measure, began upbraid- 
ing them with cowardice, when the sergeant-major 
made the folio Vv'ing noble reply : — " Had you not, 
sir, held out a sum of money as a temptation, 
your grenadiers would, one and all, have presented 



186 HISTOFtY OF GEORGIA. 



themselves." They did so instantly, and out of 
one hundred and ninety-four, of which the com- 
pany consisted, only ninety returned alive. 

Previous to the assault, some Georgia oflScers 
who had no commands, and other private gentle- 
men to the number of thirty, formed themselves 
into a volunteer corps, under Colonel Marbury. 
Of this little party eleven were either killed or 
wounded. Among the latter was Lieutenant 
Edward Lloyd, whose arm had been carried away 
by a cannon-ball. While a surgeon was employed 
in dressing the remaining stump of this young 
ofl&cer's arm. Major James Jackson observed to 
him, that his prospect was unpromising, from the 
heavy burden which hard fate had imposed upon 
him, as a young man who was just entering into 
life. Lloyd answered that, unpromising as it was, 
he would not willingly exchange it for the feel- 
ings of Lieutenant Stedman, who had fled at the 
commencement of the assault. 

The conduct of Sergeant Jasper merits still 
more particular notice. At the commencement 
of the Revolutionary war, Sergeant Jasper enlisted 
in the second South Carolina regiment of infan- 
try, commanded by Colonel Moultrie. He dis- 
tinguished himself in a particular manner at the 
attack which was made upon Fort Moultrie, on 
Sullivan's Island, on the 25th of June, 1776. 

In the warmest part of the contest the flagstaff 
was severed by a cannon-ball, and the flag fell to 



SERGEANT JASPER. 187 



the bottom of the ditch on the outside of the 
works : this accident was considered by the anx- 
ious inhabitants of Charleston as putting an end 
to the contest by striking the American flag to 
the enemy. 

The moment Jasper made the discovery that 
the flag had fallen, he jumped from one of the 
embrasures, and seizing the colours, which he 
had tied to a sponge-staff, supported them on the 
parapet until another flag was procured. His 
subsequent activity and enterprise induced Colo- 
nel Moultrie to give him a sort of a roving 
commission to go and come at pleasure ; confi- 
dent that he was always usefully employed. 

He was privileged to select such men from the 
regiment as he should choose to accompany him 
in his enterprises. His parties consisted gene- 
rally of five or six, and he often returned with 
prisoners before Moultrie was apprized of his ab- 
sence. Jasper was distinguished for his humane 
treatment when an enemy fell into his power. 
His ambition appears to have been limited to the 
characteristic of bravery, humanity, and useful- 
ness to the cause in which he was engaged. 

When it was in his power to kill but not to 
capture, it was his practice not to permit a single 
prisoner to escape. By his sagacity and enter- 
prise, he often succeeded in the capture of those 
who were lying in ambush for him. In one of 
his excursions, an instance of bravery and hu- 



188 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



manity is recorded by the biographer of General 
Marion, -which would stagger credulity, if it Avere 
not well attested. 

While he was examining the British camp at 
Ebenezer, all the sympathy of his breast was 
awakened by the distresses of Mrs. Jones, whose 
husband, an American by birth, had received the 
king's protection, and had been confined in irons 
for deserting the royal cause after he had taken 
the oath of allegiance. Iler well-founded belief 
was, that nothing short of the life of her husband 
would atone for the offence with which he was 
charged. 

Jasper secretly consulted with his companion, 
Sergeant Newton, whose feelings for the distressed 
female were equally excited with his own, upon 
the practicability of releasing Jones from his im- 
pending fate. 

Though they were unable to suggest a plan of 
operation, they were determined to watch for the 
most favourable opportunity, and make the effort. 
The departure of Jones and several others (all in 
irons) to Savannah, for trial, under a guard con- 
sisting of a sergeant, corporal, and eight men, 
was ordered upon the succeeding morning. 

Within two miles of Savannah, about thirty 
yards from the main road, is a spring of fine 
water, surrounded by a deep and thick under- 
wood, where travellers often halt to refresh 
themselves with a cool draught from the pure 



KESCUE OF AMERICANS. 189 



fountain. Jasper and his companion considered 
this spot the most favourable for their enterprise. 
They accordingly passed the guard, and concealed 
themselves near the spring. 

When the enemy came up, the corporal, with 
his guard of four men, conducted the prisoners to 
the spring, while the sergeant, with the other 
four, having grounded their arms near the road, 
brought up the rear. The prisoners, wearied with 
their long walk, were permitted to rest themselves 
on the earth. Two of the corporal's men were 
ordered to keep guard, and the other two to give 
the prisoners drink out of their canteens. 

The last two approached the spring where our 
heroes lay concealed, and resting their muskets 
against the tree, dipped up water ; and having 
drunk themselves, turned away, with replenished 
canteens, to give the prisoners also. "Now, 
Newton, is our time !" said Jasper. Then burst- 
ing from their concealment, they snatched up the 
two muskets that were rested against the tree, 
and instantly shot down the two soldiers that 
kept guard. 

By this time the sergeant and corporal, a 
couple of brave Englishmen, recovering from their 
panic, had sprung and seized up the two muskets 
which had fallen from the slain : but before they 
could use them, the Americans, with clubbed 
guns, levelled each at the head of his antagonist 
the final blow. Then securing their weapons. 



190 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



they flew between the surviving enemy and their 
arms, grounded near the road, and compelled 
them to surrender. 

The irons were taken off, and arms put in the 
hands of those who had been prisoners, and the 
whole party arrived at Purysburgh the next morn- 
ing and joined the American camp. There are 
but few instances upon record where personal ex- 
ertions, even for self-preservation from certain 
prospect of death, would have induced a resort to 
an act so desperate of execution. 

After the gallant defence at Sullivan's Island, 
Colonel Moultrie's regiment was presented with 
a stand of colours by Mrs. Elliot, which she had 
richly embroidered with her own hands ; and as 
a reward for Jasper's particular merit. Governor 
Rutledge presented him with a very handsome 
sword. During the assault against Savannah, as 
previously stated, two officers had been killed, 
and one wounded, endeavouring to plant these 
colours upon the enemy's parapet of the Spring 
Hill redoubt ; when, just before the retreat was 
ordered, Jasper endeavoured to replace them upon 
the works, and while he was in the act, received 
his mortal wound and fell into the ditch. When 
a retreat was ordered, he recollected the honour- 
able conditions upon which the donor presented 
the colours to his regiment, and among the last 
acts of his life, succeeded in bringing them off. 

Major Horry called to see him soon after the 



COUNT PULASKI. 191 



retreat, to whom it is said he made the following 
communication ; '' I have got my furlough. That 
sword was presented to me by Governor RutledgOj 
for my services in the defence of Fort Moultrie ; 
give it to my father, and tell him I have worn 
it in honour. If the old man should weep, tell 
him his son died in the hope of a better life. 
Tell Mrs. Elliot that I lost my life supporting 
the colours which she presented to our regiment. 
Should you ever see Jones, his wife and son, tell 
them that Jasper is gone, but that the remem- 
brance of that battle, which he fought for them, 
brought a secret joy into his heart when it was 
about to stop its motion for ever." He expired 
a few moments after closing this sentence. 

Count Pulaski, who fell mortally wounded dur- 
ing the same assault, w^as a native of Poland, 
whose king, Stanislaus, had been raised to the 
throne, not by the customary voices of the people, 
but by the influence of the Empress of Russia. 

Indignant at this innovation on the elective 
franchise, a number of patriotic nobles, among 
the foremost of whom was Pulaski, confederated 
together to rescue their country from foreign in- 
fluence by force of arms. Pulaski, for his high 
character and military enterprise, was elected 
their general. 

Finding the force and resources of the confe- 
derates unequal to the objects they had in view, 
Pulaski applied to France for assistance, and was 



192 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



secretly encouraged and supplied with money. 
A number of French officers also eno;ao;ed as vo- 
lunteers in his service ; but the numbers that 
joined his standard were not sufficient to enable 
him to achieve more than partial success. 

At length, the confederates determined to seize 
on the person of the king. A party selected for 
that purpose attacked and wounded hijoa. in the 
streets of Warsaw. They succeeded in bearing 
him off a prisoner ; but the guard deserted, and 
suffered Stanislaus to escape to his palace. Shortly 
after this, Russia, supported by Prussia and Aus- 
tria, sent troops into Poland, and under the plau- 
sible pretext of aiding Stanislaus in the recovery 
of his rights, stripped him of the greater part of 
his territories. The confederates sued for peace 
and pardon : Pulaski, and others of the chiefs, 
fled to France. The American ministers, to whom 
he was made known at Paris, recommended Pu- 
laski to the consideration of Congress, from whom 
he received, on his arrival, the appointment of 
brigadier-general of cavalry. 

The remainder of Pulaski's life was devoted to 
the service of the United States ; and it may be 
truly said, that on all occasions when he had an 
opportunity to act, " he sought the post of dan- 
ger, as the post of honour;" welcomed every op- 
portunity of being engaged with the enemy, and 
was always foremost in the day of battle. 

After being wounded in the attack on Savan- 



DEATH OF PULASKI. 193 



nah, the vessel in which he was being conveyed 
to Charleston having a long passage, he died at 
sea, and his body was launched and sunk beneath 
the waves. The funeral rites were performed in 
Charleston with military honours. The death of 
that gallant officer was greatly lamented by all 
the Americans and Freii'ih who had witnessed his 
valour or knew how to appreciate his merits. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Sufferings of the Georgians — Mrs. Mcintosh — The forged let- 
ter — Skirmish at Ogechee Ferry — Siege and surrender of 
Charleston — ReTuoval of the Georgia records — Governor 
Howley — Defection of Brigadier-general Williamson — Mur- 
der of Colonel Dooley — Inhuman treatment of Mrs. McKay 
— Defeat of the loyalists by Jones — 'Skirmish at Wafford's 
Iron-works — Clarke defeats the British at Musgrove's Mill. 

Nothing could exceed the deplorable condition 
of Georgia after the repulse of the allied forces 
before Savannah. Flushed with the hope of ex- 
pelling the enemy, many patriotic men, regard- 
less of the danger to which their families would 
be exposed, had joined the standard of Lincoln, 
and were now to suffer the fearful calamities 
which always attend disastrous issues. 

Future protection was not to be expected ; and 
nothing remained for them but the halter and 
confiscation from the British, or exile for them- 
selves, and poverty and ill-treatment, by an inso- 

ir 



194 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



lent enemy, for their wives and children, who 
were ordered forthwith to depart the country 
without the means for travelling, or any other 
means, but a reliance on charity for subsistence 
on their way. 

The families of Mcintosh, Twiggs, and Clarke, 
with numerous others, experienced hardships and 
distresses of the most afflicting character. That 
of Colonel Twiggs, wdiile removing under the 
protection of a flag, was fired upon and a young 
man killed who was of the party. 

The family of General Mcintosh was reduced 
from affluence to extreme want. On reaching 
Virginia, Mrs. Mcintosh was obliged to apply to 
Governor Jefferson for relief from absolute want. 
He furnished her with ten thousand dollars in 
continental money, but so greatly was its value 
depreciated, that it required seven hundred dol- 
lars to purchase a single pair of shoes. 

The house of Colonel Clarke was pillaged and 
burned, and his family ordered to leave the state, 
With no other means of conveyance than a pony 
of little value, Mrs. Clarke and her two daugh- 
ters set out for the north. Poor as it was, the 
horse was soon wrested from them, and the un- 
fortunate females compelled to traverse on foot 
an enemy's country, thinly inhabited, and with- 
out any means of subsistence. 

After Savannah had fallen into the hands of 
the enemy, the legislature dispersed without ap- 



ATROCIOUS FORGERY. 195 



pointing a governor for the ensuing year. John 
Werreat, esquire, president of the council, acting 
as governor, issued on the 4th of November, 
1779, a proclamation representing the necessity 
of convening the legislature, and fixing the 
second Tuesday of the same month for the elec- 
tion of members, who were to meet at Augusta 
without delay. 

Fearful, however, that the British would seize 
upon Augusta before the authorized election 
could take place, a number of gentlemen, chosen 
from the county of ' Richmond alone, formed 
themselves into a body under the name of the 
general assembly; by whom William Glascock 
was chosen speaker, and George Walton, esquire, 
governor of the state. 

During the session of this legislature a letter 
was forged in the name of William Glascock, the 
speaker, and sent to the President of Congress. 
This letter, written by some rancorous enemy of 
General Mcintosh, falsely stated that his pre- 
sence in his native state gave neither satisfaction 
to the militia nor the confederated patriots ; and 
strongly urged upon Congress to select some dis- 
tant field for the exercise of the abilities of that 
officer. 

Fortunately, a copy of the letter was forwarded 
to General Mcintosh and, instantly enclosed to 
Mr. Glascock, by whom, and by the body over 
which he presided, its contents were indignantly 



196 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



disavowed, and tlie attorney-general ordered to 
search out and prosecute its author. 

In the mean time, the Georgians whose pro- 
perty had been confiscated were active in devising 
means for its recovery and removal to places of 
security. On the other hand, the loyalists were 
as energetic in their attempts to intercept it. 
Skirmishes and reprisals occurred continually, and 
with various success. Colonels Twiggs, Dooley, 
Clarke, Few, and Jones were still engaged in par- 
tisan warfare ; sometimes on the frontiers against 
the Indians, and sometimes in attacking the de- 
tached parties of the British. 

To repress these outbreaks. General Provost 
ordered Captain Conklin, with a force of sixty- 
four men, to proceed to Governor Wright's plan- 
tation and disperse the Americans who were col- 
lected, to the number of sixty, at that place. 

At the Ogechee Ferry, Conklin was discovered 
while in the act of crossing over, but was suf- 
fered by Pickens and Twiggs to pass the river 
without interruption ; they encouraged the ad- 
vance of the enemy by exhibiting only twenty 
militia dragoons, under the command of Captain 
Inman. In the early part of the skirmish which 
ensued, Captain Conklin received a mortal wound. 
Lieutenant Roney, finding his situation critical, 
resorted to the bayonet, with which he made a 
desperate charge, and was also wounded. En- 
sign Supple's detachment was pressed closely by 



CHARLESTON TAKEN. 197 



Captain Inman's dragoons, and compelled to 
retreat through the swamp in a rice-field, where 
he knew the dragoons could not carry the pur- 
suit. He rejoined his party, and ordered the 
wounded to be carried to the boats. He kept 
up a retreating fire until he reached the river, 
which he recrossed. Of the enemy, two pri- 
vates were killed and seven wounded : among the 
latter were the first and second officers in the 
command. 

Finding that the impressions made upon the 
northern states were but transitory, the British 
generals determined to subjugate those of the 
south. Accordingly, on the 1st of April, 1780, 
Charleston was invested by land and blockaded 
by sea. The siege was continued until the 12th 
of May, when the works being considered no 
longer tenable, General Lincoln surrendered the 
city to the British army and navy. 

By the fall of Charleston, General Mcintosh, 
with the remnant of the Georgia brigade, all the 
other continental troops in the southern depart- 
ment, several thousands of the militia, and the 
residue of the ordnance and military stores in the 
southern states, fell into the hands of the enemy. 

The situation of the Governor of Georgia at 

Augusta being no longer safe, he retreated with 

part of his council, and a number of his civil 

ofiicers to North Carolina, and narrowly escaped 

capture by the way. 

17* 



198 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 

Colonel Heard, president of the council, with 
several other members, retired to Wilkes county, 
where the semblance of a government was still 
kept up. 

The records of the state had been previously 
removed to Charleston ; they were now sent to 
North Carolina. Upon the passage of the British 
army through the latter state, the Georgia records 
were carried to Maryland, where they remained 
until the close of the war. 

During the brief administration of Governor 
Howley, the gay and joyous temperament of 
that gentleman, and of his secretary of state, 
sustained the spirits of the fugitive council from 
sinking into gloom and despondency. 

The value of paper money was at that time so 
depreciated, that the governor dealt it out by the 
quire for a night's lodging for his party ; and if 
the fare was any thing extraordinary, the land- 
lord was compensated with two quires, the gover- 
nor gravely signing a draft upon the treasurer 
made out in due form for the delivery of the same. 

Public opinion about this time was strongly 
agitated in reference to the eccentric movements 
of Brigadier-general Williamson. He was en- 
camped with three hundred men, near Augusta, 
and by his continual prevarications and delays 
induced many influential persons to suspect that 
Williamson was by no means averse to being 
captured by the enemy. 



Williamson's treachery. 199 



The editor of the Royal Gazette of Georgia 
boldly charged Williamson not only with having 
the king's protection in his pocket, but that he 
had agreed to accept a colonel's commission from 
the same source. The result justified the charge. 
Williamson did, soon after, encourage the sur- 
render of his brigade ; infamously accepted the 
proffered commission of a rqyalist colonel, and 
until the close of the war, warmly advocated the 
re-establishment of the government of the crown. 
Almost simultaneous with the defection of Wil- 
liamson, Colonel Brown, with a detachment of 
royalist forces, took military possession of Au- 
gusta. 

But there were, even in these desperate times, 
a few noble hearted patriots who would not de- 
spair of eventually saving their country. Colonel 
Elijah Clarke had embodied three hundred men 
in Wilkes county, and Colonels Jones and Few, 
commanding two detachments of a similar de- 
scription, as soon as they were advised of the 
treachery of Williamson, retreated across the 
country and joined their forces to those already 
collected by Clarke. Immediately after occupy- 
ing Augusta, Colonel Brown despatched emis- 
saries into the country, with authority to give 
protection and administer the oath of allegiance 
to the British crown. One of these parties en- 
tered the house of Colonel John Dooley at a late 
hour of the night, and barbarously murdered him 



200 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



in tlie presence of his wife and children. The 
loss of so energetic a partisan as Colonel Doolej, 
was severely felt among the patriots, and was one 
among the many causes of those terrible measures 
of retaliation which were afterward enforced. 

Previous to the murder of Colonel Dooley, a 
detachment was sent by McGirth into the neigh- 
bourhood of Captain McKay, in South Carolina. 
In two days seventeen men were massacred on 
their farms, and the whole of a flourishing coun- 
try of thirty miles in length, and ten in breadth, 
was desolated by these banditti. 

Disappointed in their expectations of getting 
possession of McKay's person, they resorted to 
the torture of his wife to extort from her a know- 
ledge of the place of his concealment. The mode 
of inflicting the torture was by taking a flint out 
of the lock of a musket, and putting her thumb 
in its place. The screw was applied, until the 
thumb was ready to burst. While under this new 
species of torture, v/hich would have disgraced 
the most savage nation in the world, in addition 
to the questions put to her respecting her hus- 
band, she was required to disclose the secret 
deposit of his most valuable property, which they 
alleged had been removed and hidden in the 
woods. If McKay was afterward charged with 
inhumanity to those whom he captured, the gross 
outrage just narrated must be admitted as afi'ord- 
ing at least some palliation for his conduct. 



NANCY HART. 201 



It was at this bloody period of the war that the 
well-known incident occurred, which, though va- 
riously related, has never been so well told as in 
the following account by Mrs. Ellet : — 

<' In a portion of Wilkes — now Elbert county 
— called by tories, " The Hornest's Nest," on 
account of the number of whigs among the in- 
habitants, a stream named 'War- woman's Creek,' 
joined Broad River. It was so called on account 
of a zealous tory-hating heroine who lived on its 
banks. On the occasion of an excursion from 
the British camp at Augusta, into the interior for 
the purpose of pillage and murder, five loyalists 
separated from their party, and crossed the river 
to examine the neighbourhood and pay a visit to 
their old acquaintance, Nancy Hart. When they 
arrived at her cabin, they unceremoniously en- 
tered it, and informed her they had come to learn 
the truth of a story, that she had secreted a 
noted rebel from a party of 'king's men,' who, 
but for her interference, would have caught and 
hung him. Nancy undauntedly avowed her 
agency in the fugitive's escape. She had heard 
at first, she said, the tramp of a horse, and then 
saw a man on horseback approaching her cabin. 
As soon as she knew him to be a whig flying from 
pursuit, she let the down the bars in front of her 
cabin, and motioned him to pass through both 
doors and take to the swamp. She then put up 
the bars, entered the cabin, and closed the doors. 



202 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



Presently some tories rode upr to the bars, calling 
vociferously for her. She muffled up her head 
and face, and opening the door, inquired why 
they disturbed a sick, lone woman. They said 
they had traced a man they wanted to catch near 
to her house, and asked if any one on horseback 
had passed that way. She answered no, but that 
she saw some one on a sorrel horse turn out of 
the path into the woods, two or three hundred 
yards back. « That must be the fellow!' said 
the tories ; and asking her direction as to the 
way he took, they turned about and went off, 
^well-fooled,' concluded Nancy, «in an opposite 
course to that of my whig boy, when, if they had 
not been so lofty-minded, but had looked on the 
ground inside the bars, they would have seen his 
horse's tracks up to that door, as plain as you can 
see the tracks on this floor, and out of t'other 
door down the path to the swamp.' 

" This bold story did not much please the tory 
party, but they contented themselves with order- 
ing her to prepare them something to eat. She 
replied that she never fed traitors and king's 
men if she could help it — the villains having put 
it out of her power to feed even her own family 
and friends, by stealing and killing all her poul- 
try and pigs, ' except that one old gobbler you see 
in the yard.* < And that you shall cook for us,' 
said one who appeared to be a leader ; and raising 
his musket he shot down the turkey, which 



NANCY HART. 203 



another brought in and handed to Mrs. Hart 
to be cleaned and cooked without delay. She 
stormed a while, but seeming at last disposed to 
make a merit of necessity, began with alacrity the 
arrangements for cooking, assisted by her daugh- 
ter, a little girl ten or twelve years old. 

<-<■ The spring — of which every settlement had 
one near — was just at the edge of the swamp ; and 
a short distance within the swamp was hid among 
the trees a high snag-topped stump, on which was 
placed a conch-shell. This rude trumpet was 
used by the family to convey information, by va- 
riations in its notes, to Hart or his neighbours, 
who might be at work in a field or < clearing' 
at hand — to let them know that the ' Britishers' 
or tories were about — that the master was wanted 
at the cabin — or that he was to keep close, or 
« make tracks' for another swamp. While cook- 
ing the turkey, Nancy sent her daughter to the 
spring for water, with directions to blow the 
conch in such a way as should inform her father 
there were tories in the cabin ; and that he was 
to keep close with his three neighbours until he 
should again hear the signal. 

^' While the men, who had become merry over 
their jug of liquor, were feasting upon the slaugh- 
tered gobbler, Nancy waited on the table, and 
occasionally passed between them and their mus- 
kets. She had contrived that there should be no 
water in the cabin ; and when it was called for, 



204 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



despatclied Sukej a second time to the spring, 
with instructions to blow such a signal on the 
conch as should call up Hart and his neighbours 
immediately. Meanwhile she had managed by 
slipping out one of the pieces of pine which form 
a < chinking' between the logs of a cabin, to open 
a space through which she was able to pass to the 
outside two of the five guns. She was detected 
in the act of putting out the third. The men 
sprang to their feet, when, quick as thought, 
Nancy brought the piece she held, to her shoul- 
der, declaring she would kill the first man who 
approached her. The men arriving from the 
field, the tories were taken prisoners, and, sad to 
relate ! received no more mercy than had some 
of the whigs at the hands of their enemies." 

During the month of June, Colonel Clarke was 
actively engaged in collecting additional troops, 
and in concerting with the authorities of South 
Carolina the plan of a campaign against the enemy. 

Agreeably to appointment, on the 11th of July, 
one hundred and forty men, well mounted and 
armed, reached the rendezvous at , Freeman's 
Fort ; but as the British and loyalists were in 
force in his front, Clarke proposed to disband his 
men for a time, and wait until a more favourable 
opportunity occurred for carrying out his designs. 

This arrangement was very generally approved, 
but Colonel Jones, joined by some thirty-five 
men, determined to force their way across the 



PARTISAN SKIRMISHES. 205 



state into North Carolina, and join the American 
army wherever it was to be found. 

On the 14th, Jones surprised, by stratagem, a 
party of loyalists, killed one and wounded three, 
and took twenty-eight prisoners. The next day 
he joined Colonel McDonald at Earls' Ford, on 
Packolet Kiver. The united forces numbered 
over four hundred men. 

Ignorant of the approach of McDowell, Colo- 
nel Innis, commander of the British garrison at 
Prince's Fort, despatched Captain Dunlop with 
seventy dragoons, in pursuit of Jones. Dunlop 
pressed forward with rapidity, attacked the Ame- 
rican encampment during the night, killed and 
wounded thirty-eight men, and retreated with the 
loss of but one man wounded. 

A pursuit was immediately ordered, and after 
a march of fifteen miles in two hours, Dunlop was 
himself defeated in turn, with the loss of eight men 
killed at the first fire, and many others killed and 
wounded before he was enabled to reach the fort. 

Clarke, having in the mean time, re-assembled 
his regiment, was joined soon after by Colonel 
Jones, near the line which separates North from 
South Carolina. His presence forming a great 
annoyance to Colonel Innis and his garrison, the 
latter determined to bring on a general action ; 
but after a short but indecisive skirmish at Waf- 
ford's Iron-works, in which Major Burwell Smith 
was killed, both parties retired from the field. 

18 



. 206 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



The loss of Major Smith was greatly regretted by 
Colonel Clarke, who considered him as one of his 
best partisan officer^. 

The continued success of the American foraging 
parties determined Colonel Innis to increase his 
force, renew the attack upon Clarke's camp, and, 
if possible, drive him out of the country. On the 
night of the 17th of August, the approach of 
Innis — whose command consisted of three hun- 
dred and fifty men — was communicated to Colonel 
Clarke. Fortunately, the latter had previously 
been joined by Colonels Williams, Branham, and 
Shelby, whose forces had raised Clarke's num- 
bers to an equality with those of the enemy. It 
was, therefore, determined to give battle the next 
morning. 

About four miles from Musgrove's Mill there 
was a plantation, through which was a lane, and 
Clarke considered that the north end of it afforded 
him a favourable position for an attack. 

He advanced with one hundred men, himself 
on the right, and Major McCall on the left ; form- 
ing in the edge of the thick wood across the road, 
and extending his flanks near the fence. Wil- 
liams and Branham were ordered to form close 
in the rear of the flanks, and Shelby to cover 
the centre as a reserved corps, and to throw his 
force wherever circumstances might require. The 
advance-guard of the enemy were within fifty 
paces before they were aware of danger. When 



THE BRITISH DEFEATED. 207 



Clarke commenced the attack, Innis ordered his 
dragoons and mounted m.ilitia to charge upon the 
Americans, and force them from the ground they 
occupied, that he might have room to form his 
regulars. Clarke was aware that the issue of the 
battle depended on his holding his ground, so as 
to force the British regulars to form in the open 
field, while his own men would be covered by the 
fence and the woods. Williams and Branham 
advanced and formed upon the right and left, and 
Shelby to the support of the centre, when the 
contest became close and sanguinary. Observ- 
ing this additional force, the dragoons and royal 
militia retreated into the lane among the British 
regulars, thus increasing the confusion, and flying 
from the field in the utmost disorder. The regu- 
lars had not room to form, and if they had done 
so in the open field, it would have been to great 
disadvantage. In this confused state, exposed 
to a galling fire from the American riflemen, they 
remained but a few minutes before seven British 
ofiicers out of nine were either killed or wounded ; 
and the men tumbled down in heaps, without the 
power of resistance. Among the wounded was 
the British commander. Captain Ker, second in 
command, finding that resistance would then be 
vain, and without hope of success, ordered a re- 
treat ; which was eff*ected in close order for four 
miles, resorting to the bayonet in flank and rear. 
The pursuit was continued by the victors, until 



208 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



the enemy took refuge in Musgrove's Mill. The 
British loss was sixty-three killed, and one hun- 
dred and sixty wounded and prisoners. The 
American loss was four killed and nine wounded. 
Among the former was Captain Inman, and among 
the latter were Colonel Clarke and Captain John 
Clarke. The colonel received two wounds with 
a sabre on the back of his neck and head. His 
stock-buckle saved his life. He was for a few 
minutes a prisoner with the enemy, in charge of 
two men ; but taking advantage of his strength 
and activity, he knocked one of them down, and 
the other fled. 

Colonel Clarke, after burying his dead, returned 
to his former encampment near the iron-works. 



PLEDGES VIOLATED. 209 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Cornwallis violates his pledges of protection — Indignation of 
the people — Clarke returns to Georgia — Siege of Augusta — 
Brown's desperate defence — Cruger advances to reinforce 
Brow^n — Retreat of Clarke — 'Cruelty of Brown toward his 
prisoners — Savage treatment of Mr. Alexander by Colonel 
Grierson — Ferguson ordered to intercept — Is pursued himself 
— Battle of King's Mountain — Skirmishes — Clarke wounded. 

Lord Cornwallis, having, as he supposed, en- 
tirely subjugated the states of Georgia and South 
Carolina, now shamefully determined to violate 
those pledges of protection which many of the 
inhabitants had been compelled previously to 
accept. 

The impression first made upon the public mind 
was, that persons and property were to be secured 
against outrage and molestation by the British 
troops and loyalists ; and that peaceable citizens 
were not to take up arms against the crown of 
Great Britain so long as these conditions were 
duly regarded. 

So soon, however, as Cornwallis had succeeded 
in restoring the government of the crown, he 
wrote secret orders to the commanders of his 
outposts, directing them to punish with the utmost 
rigour all who had taken part in the revolt, to 
imprison all who refused to take up arms on the 

18* 



210 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



side of the British, and to confiscate or destroy 
their property. The most positive instructions 
were also given to hang every militia-man who, 
after having once borne arms for the crown, had 
subsequently joined the patriots. 

Orders of so sanguinary a character could not 
remain long unknown to the people. Indignant 
at this gross violation of the compact entered into 
between themselves and their brutal rulers, many 
immediately flew to arms ; while others of a cooler 
temperament smothered their resentment for a 
time, but were not the less resolved to shake off, 
at the first favourable opportunity, their allegiance 
to a government as treacherous as it was blood- 
thirsty. Among the most confident of those who 
entertained hopes that the authorized cruelties, 
which ensued soon afterward, would rouse a large 
proportion of the population into open rebellion, 
were Colonel Elijah Clarke and Lieutenant-colonel 
McCall. 

About the 1st of September, 1780, the first 
returned to Wilkes county in Georgia ; while the 
other went into the western part of Ninety-Six 
district, with the expectation of raising a joint 
force of at least one thousand men. To such an 
army it was supposed that Augusta would sub- 
mit with little or no resistance, and that Ninety- 
Six might soon afterward be menaced, and would 
probably be evacuated by the enemy. The suc- 
cess of this scheme would have given the Ameri- 



AUGUSTA ATTACKED. 211 



cans the whole of the western divisions of Georgia 
and South Carolina. 

Instead of five hundred men, which McCall 
had confidently calculated on from Carolina, his 
persuasions could only induce eighty to accom- 
pany him upon the expedition. Clarke had been 
more successful. His numbers amounted to three 
hundred and fifty. 

With this small band he determined to precipi- 
tate himself suddenly upon Augusta ; and as soon 
as he was joined by McCall, he commenced his 
march. 

The garrison of Augusta consisted, at the time 
of Clarke's approach, of five hundred and fifty 
rangers and Indians, under the command of the 
renegade Colonel Brow^n. 

On the morning of the 14th of September, the 
Americans halted, unobserved, near the town, and 
separated their forces into three divisions. One 
of these divisions, under Major Taylor, while 
advancing to the attack, fell in with an Indian 
camp near to Hawk's Creek, and drove the 
savages back upon their allies. Taylor press- 
ed on to get possession of McKay's trading- 
house, denominated the white house, one mile 
and a half west of the town. At this house the 
Indians joined a company of the king's rangers, 
commanded by Captain Johnston. The attack 
upon the camp gave the first intimation to Brown 
of the Americans' approach. He ordered Grier- 



212 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



son to reinforce Johnston^ and advanced to the 
scene of action in person, -with the main body. 
The centre and right divi^ons corapletelj sur- 
prised the garrisons of the forts, and took pos- 
session without resistance. Seventy prisoners^ 
and all the Indians present, were put under 
charge of a guard, and Clarke marched with the 
residue to the assistance of Major Taylor. Brown 
and Grierson had joined Johnston and the In- 
dians, and upon Clarke's approach, took shelter 
in the white house, and defended it. Several 
attempts were made to dislodge the enemy, by 
taking possession of some small out-houses to the 
eastward ; but they failed, from the houses being 
too small and flanked by the Indians. Finding 
that these houses furnished little or no defence, 
they were abandoned. A desultory fire was con- 
tinued from eleven o'clock until night, but it was 
found that the enemy could not be dislodged 
without artillery. 

At the close of the day the firing ceased, and 
strong guards were posted to keep the enemy 
in check. Under cover of the night. Brown 
strengthened his position by throwing up some 
works around the house, and by filling the inter- 
stices between the weather-boarding with earth. 

The next morning Clarke brought up two 
pieces of artillery from Grierson's Fort, which 
were placed in a position to bear upon the house ; 
but owing to unskilful management, and the 



SIEGE OF AUGUSTA RAISED. 213 



fall of his only artillerist, tliey proved of little 
use. 

On the morning of the 16th, the Americans 
succeeded in driving the Indians from their shel- 
ter, and cut off the supply of water, by which the 
enemy, particularly the wounded, suffered greatly. 
Early in the engagement. Brown was shot through 
both thighs and suffered among the wounded, who 
were often heard calling for water and medical 
aid. 

The sufferings of the wounded, the nauseous 
smell of animal putrefaction from the dead bodies 
of men and horses lying around, and the want 
of water, it was supposed, would induce the 
enemy to surrender. 

Accordingly, on the 17th, Clarke sent Colonel 
Brown a summons, but the proposition was re- 
jected. In the afternoon the summons was re- 
peated ; the reply of Brown expressed his deter- 
mination to defend himself to the last extremity. 

The only hope of the latter rested upon the 
messengers he had sent off early in the contest to 
Colonel Cruger at Ninety-Six, asking immediate 
reinforcements. Nor were these hopes fallacious. 
On the night of the 17th, Clarke's spies informed 
him of the approach of Cruger by forced marches, 
with five hundred British regulars and militia ; 
and at ten o'clock on the morning of the 18th, 
the Americans raised the siege, after having held 
the enemy for three days almost within their 



214 HISTORY OF GEOEGIA. 



grasp. The retreat itself was a bitter mortifica- 
tion, but the consequences which immediately 
followed it were horrible. 

When Clarke felt himself compelled to retire 
before a vastly superior force of the enemy, lie 
humanely paroled his prisoners, to the number 
of fifty-four officers and men, hoping that this 
considerate policy would operate favourably in 
regard to such of his own wounded as were not 
in a condition to be removed from the town. He 
had fearfully mistaken the character of his enemy. 
The prisoners he had released immediately vio- 
lated their parole, and took up arms against him. 

Captain Asby, an officer noted for his bravery 
and humanity, with twenty-eight others, including 
the wounded, fell into the hands of the enemy, 
and were disposed of, under the sanguinary order 
of Lord Cornwallis, in the following manner : 
Captain Asby and twelve of the wounded prison- 
ers were hanged on the staircase of the White- 
house, where Brown was lying wounded, so that 
he might have the satisfaction of seeing the 
victims of his vengeance expire. Their bodies 
were delivered up to the Indians, who scalped 
and otherwise mangled them and threw them in 
the river. Henry Duke, John Burgamy, Scott 

Redden, Jordan Ricketson, Darling, and 

two youths, brothers, of seventeen and fifteen 
years of age, named Glass, were all hanged : 
the former of these youths was shot through the 



ATROCIOUS CRUELTIES. 215 



thigh, and could not be carried off when the re- 
treat was ordered, and the younger brother could 
not be prevailed on to leave him ; his tenderness 
and affection cost him his life. A horse was the 
fatal scaffold on which they were mounted, and 
from the gibbet they entered together on the long 
journey of eternity. 

All this was merciful, when compared with 
the fate which awaited the other prisoners. They 
were delivered to the Indians to glut their ven- 
geance for the loss they had sustained in the 
action and siege. The Indians formed a circle 
and placed the prisoners in the centre, and their 
eagerness to shed blood spared the victims from 
tedious torture : some were scalped before they 
sunk under the Indian weapons of war ; others 
were thrown into fires and roasted to death. 

Thus mournfully ended an expedition which, 
had it been successful, would have been lauded 
as highly as it was subsequently censured. 

After the siege was raised the country was 
searched, and those whose relations were engaged 
in the American cause were arrested and crowded 
into prisons : others who were suspected of hav- 
ing intercourse with any of Clarke's command 
were hanged without the forms of trial. The 
venerable grandfathers of the American patriots, 
whose hoary heads were bending toward the 
grave, were crowded into filthy places of confine- 
ment for no other crimes than those of receiving 



216 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



visits from tlieir descendants, after a long ab- 
sence. Among the number was the father of 
Captains Samuel and James Alexander, in the 
seventy-eighth year of his age : he vras arrested 
by a party commanded by Colonel Grierson, and 
by his order was ignominiously chained to a cart, 
and dragged like a criminal forty miles in two 
days ; and when he attempted to rest his feeble 
frame by leaning upon the cart, the driver was 
ordered to scourge him with his whip. These old 
men were kept in close confinement, as hostages 
for the neutrality of the country ; but by the in- 
clemency of the season, the small-pox, and inhu- 
man treatment, very few of them survived to 
greet their friends in freedom, upon the re-con- 
quest of it by the American troops. 

So soon as Lord Cornwallis heard of the retreat 
of Clarke from Augusta, he directed Major Fer- 
guson, a partisan officer of distinguished merit, 
to march to the frontiers of South Carolina and 
intercept Clarke. 

The hardy mountaineers of Virginia and North 
Carolina, collecting at this time from various 
quarters, constituted a formidable force, and ad- 
vanced by a rapid movement toward Ferguson. 

At the same time. Colonel Williams, from 
the neighbourhood of Ninety-Six, and Colonels 
Tracy and Banan, also of South Carolina, con- 
ducted parties of men toward the same points. 
Ferguson, having notice of their approach, com- 



BATTLE OP king's MOUNTAIN. 217 



menced his march for Charlottesville. The several 
corps of militia, amounting to near three thou- 
sand men, met at Gilbert-town, lately occupied 
by Ferguson. About one thousand six hundred 
riflemen were immediately selected, and mounted 
on their fleetest horses, for the purpose of follow- 
ing the retreating army. They came up with the 
enemy at King's Mountain, October 7th, 1780, 
where Ferguson, on finding he should be over- 
taken, had chosen his ground, and waited for an 
attack. 

The Americans formed themselves into three 
divisions, led by Colonels Campbell, Shelby, and 
Cleaveland, and began to ascend the mountain in 
three difl"erent and opposite directions. Cleave- 
land, with his division, was the first to gain sight 
of the enemy's picket, and halting his men, he 
addressed them in the following simple, aff'ecting, 
and animating terms: — "My brave fellows, we 
have beat the tories, and we can beat them ; they 
are all cowards. If they had the spirit of men, 
they would join their fellow-citizens in supporting 
the independence of their country. When en- 
gaged, you are not to wait for the word of com- 
mand from me. I ivill show you how to fight hy 
my example. I can undertake no more. Every 
man must consider himself as an officer, and act 
from his own judgment. Fire as quick as you 
can. When you can do no better, get behind 
trees or retreat, but I beg you not to run quite 

19 



218 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



off. If we are repulsed, let us make a point to 
return and renew the fight ; perhaps we may 
have better luck in the second attempt than in 
the first. ' If any of you are afraid, such have 
leave to retire, and they are requested imiiie- 
diately to take themselves off.'' 

This address, w^hich would have done honour 
to the hero of Agincourt, being ended, the men 
rushed upon the enemy's pickets, and forced them 
to retire ; but returning again to the charge with 
the bayonet, Cleaveland's men gave w^ay in their 
turn. In the mean time. Colonel Shelby advanced 
with his division, and was in like manner driven 
back by the bayonets of the enemy ; but there 
was yet another body of assailants to be received : 
Colonel Campbell moved up at the moment of 
Shelby's repulse, but was equally unable to stand 
against the British bayonets, and Ferguson still 
kept possession of his mountain. The whole of 
the division being separately baflled, determined 
to make an other effort in co-operation, and the 
conflict became terrible. 

Ferguson still depended upon the bayonet ; but 
this brave and undaunted officer, after gallantly 
sustaining the attack for nearly an hour, was 
killed by a musket-ball, and his troops soon after 
surrendered at discretion. The whole army of 
the enemy, consisting of over eleven hundred 
men, with but few exceptions, were either killed, 
wounded, or taken prisoners ; and all their arms, 



THE AMERICANS VICTORIOUS. 219 



ammunition, camp equipage, horses, and baggage 
of every description fell into the hands of the 
victorious Americans. The loss of the latter did 
not exceed twenty in killed, though the number 
of their wounded was very considerable. 

After disposing of their families among the 
hospitable inhabitants of Kentucky, Clarke col- 
lected the remains of his regiment, recrossed the 
mountains, and formed a junction with General 
Sumpter, on the borders of South Carolina. 
While they remained in the latter state, the 
Georgians took an active and an honourable part 
in the battles of Fishdam Ford, Blackstocks, and 
Longcane,. and subsequently, under Morgan, 
shared in the more important victory at the Cow- 
pens. Colonel Clarke, however, was unable to 
take any part personally in the latter battle, 
owing to his having received a dangerous wound 
during the action at Longcane. 



220 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Skirmish at Beattie's Mill — Sickness of Clarke — Death of 
McCall — Georgians harass the British — Skirmish at Wig- 
gins's Hill — Death of Rannal McKay and others — Augusta 
invested by Williamson — Clarke assumes command — Is re- 
inforced by Pickens and Lee — Fort Grierson abandoned — 
Colonel Grierson shot — Surrender of Brown — Mrs. McKay's 
interview with him — Fort Ninety-Six abandoned by Cruger 
— Wayne advances toward Savannah^ — Defeats three hun- 
dred Creek Indians — Pickens marches against the Cherokees 
— Closing of the war — Savannah evacuated — Treaty of 
peace concluded at Paris. 

As soon as Clarke had sufficiently recovered 
of his wound, he joined General Pickens in 
Ninety-Six district, and took part in the skir- 
mish at Beattie's Mill on Little River. In this 
spirited affair, Major Dunlop, with seventy-five 
British dragoons, were signally defeated ; Dun- 
lop himself killed, nearly half of his entire force 
either killed or wounded, and the remainder made 
prisoners of war. 

When it became known that General Greene 
intended to advance into South Carolina, Clarke 
proceeded into Georgia with his troops, accompa- 
nied by McCall and a part of his regiment from 
South Carolina. 

About the middle of April, 1781, both these 
officers were seized with the small-pox. Clarke 



SKIRMISHES. 221 



eventually recovered, but McCall returned into 
Carolina and died of the disease. 

When the Georgians returned into their own 
state, they dispersed into parties of ten and twelve 
men each, so as to spread themselves over the 
settlements and harass the enemy as much as 
possible. 

Information having been received by Colonel 
Brown, that Colonel Harden with a body of 
American militia was in the neighbourhood of 
Coosawhatchie, he ordered his provincials to join 
him at Augusta and defend it ; but they shrunk 
from the dangerous task, and fled into the Indian 
country. 

Brown now determined to attack Harden in 
person. They met at AViggins's Hill ; where, 
after a sharp contest, the Americans were de- 
feated, with the loss of seven killed and eleven 
wounded. Several prisoners were captured after 
the skirmish by detached parties of the enemy. 
Among these was Rannal McKay, a youth of 
seventeen years of age. Mrs. McKay, who was 
a widow, hearing of the captivity of her son, re- 
paired to Brown's camp, carrying with her some 
refreshments which she intended to present to 
him, as a means of obtaining more ready access 
to his person. 

Brown received the refreshments, but turned 
a deaf ear to her entreaties, and would not per- 
mit her to have an interview with her son, whose 

19* 



222 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



fate she already foresa^Y : she was forced without 
the sentries. Colonel Rannal McKinnon, a 
Scots officer, who was a soldier of honour, and 
unused to murderous warfare, remonstrated with 
Brown against hanging the youth, and gave Mrs. 
McKay some assurances that her son would be 
safe. Brown returned that night and encamped 
at Wiggins's Hill, and caused a pen to be made 
of fence rails, about three feet high, in which he 
placed his prisoners, and covered it over with 
the same materials. Mrs. McKay had followed 
to the camp, but was not permitted to enter it ; 
and Captain McKinnon, the advocate of hu- 
manity, was ordered on command. 

On the ensuing morning, the prisoners, Kannal 
McKay, Britton Williams, George Smith, George 
Beed, and a Frenchman, whose name is not 
known, were ordered forth to the gallows ; and 
after hanging until they were nearly dead, they 
were cut down and delivered to the Indians, who 
scalped them and otherwise abused their bodies 
in their accustomed savage manner. 

The fate of young McKay inspired his brother, 
a youth of fifteen, to join his countrymen and 
add his strength in avenging the murder of his 
brother. 

But the period was fast approaching when 
Georgia, bleeding and desolated, was to be re- 
lieved of the presence of her sanguinary oppres- 
sors. 



AUGUSTA BLOCKADED. 223 



On the 16th of April, Lieutenant-colonel AYil- 
liamson, on whom the command of the Georgian 
militia was devolved during the illness of Colonel 
Clarke, assembled his detachment at the ap- 
pointed rendezvous on Little River, where he 
was shortly afterward joined by other detach- 
ments of Georgians and Carolinians. With this 
force, but little superior in numbers to his adver- 
sary, he marched at once upon Augusta. 

Williamson took up a position within twelve 
hundred yards of the town, and fortifying his 
camp kept Brown in a state of blockade until the 
15th of May. On that day. Colonel Clarke ar- 
rived with a reinforcement of one hundred men, 
and assumed the command. 

Clarke was unfurnished with cannon, but had 
picked up an old four-pounder in the field, which 
had been thrown away by the British : believing 
it might be converted to use, he had it mounted, 
and employed a blacksmith to form pieces of 
iron into the shape of balls ; and commenced 
his approaches by constructing a battery at four 
hundred yards distance from Grierson's Fort, and 
placed his gun upon it. Powder was so scarce, 
that orders were given not to use it when the 
sword could be substituted. He sent an express 
to General Pickens, stating his situation and re- 
questing assistance. 

At the time the messenger reached him, Pick- 
ens had so weakened his force by detachments 



224 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



against the Indians, that he was unable to com- 
ply with the request. He sent, however, a letter 
to General Greene, who, as soon as he was in- 
formed of the condition and prospects of Clarke, 
ordered a detachment under Colonel Lee to 
march to his relief. Almost immediately after- 
ward, Pickens was placed in a condition to fol- 
low. 

On the 23d of May, a junction was formed by 
Pickens, Lee, and Clarke. After reconnoitring 
the ground and the British works, it was deter- 
mined to dislodge Grierson, who was garrisoned 
about half a mile west of Fort Cornwallis, and 
either destroy or intercept him in his retreat. 
The attempt was immediately made. Discover- 
ing that Grierson was in a critical situation, 
Brown drew out a part of his forces, and made 
an ineffectual attempt to relieve his subordinate. 

Grierson, finding resistance would be vain, 
evacuated his fortress, and endeavoured, under 
shelter of a ravine leading to the river's bank, 
to unite his command with that of Brown in Fort 
Cornwallis. 

Li this hazardous retreat, he had thirty men 
killed, and forty-five wounded and taken prison- 
ers. Grierson himself was shot, after he had sur- 
rendered, by one of the Georgia riflemen. A re- 
ward was offered by the American commander for 
the apprehension of the offender, but without effect. 
The death of Grierson was in retaliation for his 



SIEGE OF AUGUSTA. 225 



numerous cruelties, but especially for his barba- 
rous conduct toward the venerable Mr. Alexander 
a short time previous. As the company of Captain 
Alexander formed a part of the American force 
before Augusta, it may easily be conjectured by 
whose hand Grierson fell. 

Browm, finding that he would be closely in- 
vested, applied himself to strengthen his fortress ; 
and every part which required amendment was 
repaired with industry. He placed the aged 
Alexander, and others who had long been in 
captivity, in one of the bastions most exposed to 
the fire of the rifle batteries ; one of which was 
manned by Captain Samuel Alexander's com- 
pany : thus the father was exposed to be killed 
by the hand of his son ; but he escaped uninjured. 

These preparations on the part of the enemy 
could not be counteracted. The Americans had 
but one field-piece, and all that could be done 
was only to be achieved by close investure and 
regular approaches. 

At length. Colonel Lee suggested the plan of 
raising a tower of square logs, some thirty feet 
high, proof against the enemy's artillery, and 
sufficiently large and strong to sustain a six- 
pounder. 

By the 1st of June, the tower was raised suffi- 
ciently high to overlook the works of the enemy, 
and Brown, anticipating the fatal consequences 
•which would result from its completion, directed 



226 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



his attention to the destruction of it. Finding it 
could not be destroyed by fair and open combat, 
Brown resorted to stratagem to effect his object ; 
but in this also he ^yas equally unsuccessful. 

On the 31st of May, Brown had been sum- 
moned to surrender, but refused. On the morn- 
ing of the 3d of June, another opportunity was 
afforded him, which he rejected. 

During the day an incessant and galling fire 
was kept up from the rifle batteries, which were 
raised so high as to enable the besiegers to unman 
the fiela-pieces, and drive the enemy from the 
opposite bastions. The six-pounder in the tower 
had dismounted the enemy's artillery, and ren- 
dered it useless. They were obliged to dig vaults 
in the ground within the fort, to secure them- 
selves from the fire of the American riflemen. 

The morning of the 4th, at nine o'clock, was 
destined for the assault : as the hour approached, 
and columns were arrayed waiting the signal to 
advance, a British ofiicer appeared with a flag, and 
presented a letter at the margin of the trenches, 
addressed to General Pickens and Colonel Lee, 
offering to surrender on the conditions specified 
in the communication. After a day's delay, the 
terms which the Americans offered as their ulti- 
matum were agreed to ; and, on the morning of 
the 5th of June, the fort and garrison were sur- 
rendered. 

The British loss during the siege was fifty-t"\TO 



MRS. McKay's address to brown. 227 



killed, and three hundred and thirty-four, in- 
cluding the wounded, were made prisoners of war. 
The American loss was sixteen killed, and thirty- 
five wounded, seven of them mortally. Brown 
and his officers were placed under a strong guard 
to secure their safety. Young McKay, the bro- 
ther of the youth murdered by Brown, endea- 
voured to kill the latter, but was prevented by 
the guard. Mrs. McKay was said to have armed 
herself for the same purpose. As the prisoners 
were on their way to Savannah for the purpose 
of being exchanged, she met the escort at Silver- 
bluff, and, after promising the officer in charge 
to do no violence to Brown, obtained leave to 
speak with him. As soon as she was admitted 
to his presence, she thus addressed him : 

«' Colonel Brown, in the late day of your pros- 
perity, I visited your camp, and on my knees 
supplicated for the life of my son ; but you were 
deaf to my entreaties : you hanged him, though 
a beardless youth, before my face. These eyes 
saw him scalped by the savages under your im- 
mediate command. As you are now a prisoner 
to the leaders of my country, I lay aside for the 
present all thoughts of revenge ; but when you 
resume your sword, I will go five hundred miles 
to demand satisfaction at the point of it, for the 
murder of my son !" 

Immediately after the capture of Augusta, 
Pickens and Lee, with a part of the Georgians, 



228 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



joined General Greene in his investment of Fort 
Ninety-Six. The approach of Lord Rawdon at 
the head of two thousand men compelled Greene 
to raise the siege and retire toward North Caro- 
lina. The situation of the British becoming every 
day more precarious, Ninety-Six was soon after- 
ward abandoned by Colonel Cruger, who de- 
stroyed the works, and, retreating upon Orange- 
burg, formed a junction with Rawdon. 

The attention of the continental officers was 
now turned to the reduction of Savannah ; but 
before this could be accomplished, it was found 
necessary to organize an expedition against the 
Indian towns, to chastise the savages and loyal- 
ists, who had for some time been murdering and 
plundering along the frontiers. The expedition 
terminated favourably, and for a few months the 
inhabitants were left in the enjoyment of peace. 

At length, the success of the American army 
under General Greene in South Carolina enabled 
him to send a force, commanded by General 
Wayne, to the assistance of the Georgians. 

The British Brigadier-general Clarke, who at 
this time commanded in Savannah, on learning 
the advance of Wayne, called in his outposts and 
made preparations for a vigorous defence. He 
despatched expresses to the Creek and Cherokee 
Indians, requesting them to march to his as- 
sistance ; but the defeats they had suffered from 
Pickens and Lee had in some measure discouraged 



DEFEAT OF THE SAVAGES. 229 



them. They met in council in the spring of 
1782, and while some agreed to join the British 
on the southern frontier by the middle of May, the 
greater part of the warriors resolved to remain 
neutral. In the mean time, in endeavouring to 
keep open the communication to the southward 
of Savannah for the purpose of giving free pas- 
sage to his savage allies, the detachments of the 
British commander suffered several defeats. 

On the night of the 23d of June, three hundred 
Creek Indians, headed by Guristersigo, reached 
undiscovered the vicinity of Wayne's camp, and 
while seeking to avoid it by surprising the pickets, 
fell upon the main body. After a short conflict 
the Indians were routed. Scattering into small 
parties they returned to the Creek nation, leaving 
seventeen men dead upon the field, and one hun- 
dred and seventeen pack-horses loaded with pel- 
try, in the hands of the victors. 

Shortly after this, an expedition was organized 
by Pickens and Clarke against the Cherokees, 
the effect of which was to bring about a treaty 
with that nation, by which the Cherokees ceded 
to Georgia all the lands south of Savannah Biver, 
and east of the Chattahoochee, as the price of 
peace. 

Early in 1783, the chiefs repaired to Augusta, 
and, on the 30th of May, formally ratified the 
treaty entered into with General Pickens the 
September previous. 

20 



230 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



Another treaty was made soon after with the 
Creeks, by which the lands claimed by them east 
of the Oconee River were surrendered to Georgia. 

The war was now rapidly drawing to a close. 
The defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga, the capture 
of Cornwallis at Yorktown, joined to the ill-suc- 
cess which had attended the British arms gene- 
rally, had rendered the war very unpopular in 
England. 

After numerous debates upon the subject, Ge- 
neral Conway, on the 29th of February, 1783, 
moved in the House of Commons, " That a further 
prosecution of hostilities against the colonies 
would tend to increase the mutual enmity so fatal 
to the interests of both Great Britain and Ame- 
rica." 

A change of ministry and policy soon suc- 
ceeded. General Sir Guy Carleton was ordered 
to take command of the British forces in America, 
and, in conjunction with Admiral Digby, was ap- 
pointed to negotiate a peace with the American 
government. 

On the 2d of May, General Leplie, who com- 
manded the British forces in the southern depart- 
ment, proposed to General Greene a cessation of 
hostilities; but the latter declined entering into 
any stipulation of the kind without authority 
from Congress. It was understood, however, that 
measures were in progress for withdrawing the 
British forces from America, and that terms of 



SAVANNAH EVACUATED. 231 



peace had been offered by Great Britain to the 
American commissioners at Paris. 

About the 1st of July, a deputation from the 
merchants of Savannah visited General Wayne, 
for the purpose of ascertaining upon what terms 
British subjects might be permitted to remain in 
the city after it should be evacuated by the troops 
of the enemy. 

After some preliminary difficulties had been 
overcome, the conduct of the negotiation on the 
part of Georgia was intrusted principally to Ma- 
jor John Habersham, and on the 11th of July, 
1783, the embarkation of the British troops was 
commenced. The American army entered and 
took possession of the city the same day. Be- 
tween the 12th and 25th of the same month, 
twelve hundred British regulars and loyalists, 
five hundred women and children, three hundred 
Indians, and five thousand negroes sailed from 
the port of Savannah. 

The metropolis of Georgia had been three 
years, six months, and thirteen days, in the en- 
tire possession of the enemy; and at several 
times, the whole state had been under the control 
of the British government. The number of the 
disaffected to the republican government appears, 
by the act of confiscation and banishment, to 
have amounted to two hundred and eighty. A 
considerable number of them were afterward re- 
stored to the rights of citizenship, and some of 



232 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



them to the enjoyment of their property, upon 
paying twelve and a half per cent, upon the 
amount thus restored ; and others upon paying 
eight per cent, into the public treasury. 

No correct estimate can be made of the im- 
mense losses sustained by the inhabitants of Geor- 
gia during the Revolutionary war. The negroes 
and other property which was carried off; the 
houses, plantations, and produce, destroyed by 
fire ; the loss of time, by constant military em- 
ployment ; the distressed condition of widows, 
w^ho were left by the numerous murders com- 
mitted upon the heads of families, and killed in 
the field of battle, — seem to bid defiance to 
calculation. If the inhabited part of the state, 
with all the property it contained, had been 
valued at the commencement of the war, half of 
the amount would probably have been a moderate 
estimate of the loss. 

As early as the 30th of November, 1782, pro- 
visional articles of peace were entered into at 
Paris between the American* commissioners and 
the commissioner on the part of Great Britain, 
but the definitive treaties between England, 
France, and America, were not finally ratified 
until the 3d of September, 1783. 

Thus ended the terrible but glorious war of 
the American Revolution ; terrible in the calami- 
ties which it brought upon a patriotic people, 
glorious in its final result. Never in the history 



CONDITION OP THE COLONIES. 233 



of- the world did an appeal to arms originate 
from purer motives, or entail more blessings 
upon future generations by the success which fol- 
lowed it. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Condition of the colonies at the close of the war — Re-organiza- 
tion of the Federal government proposed — Delegates meet 
at Annapolis — Recommend a convention to meet at Phila- 
delphia — Convention meets — Number of states represented 
— 'Washington elected chairman — Rules of proceeding — The 
first questions considered, ratio of representation, and rules 
of voting — Contest between the larger and smaller states — • 
Vote of Georgia — The executive — A counter project — Grand 
committee of conference — Proposition of Franklin — Rule of 
appointment — Committee of detail — New difficulties — Com- 
promises — Doubts and fears respecting the constitution — ■ 
Territorial suit between Georgia and South Carolina — Geor- 
gia called upon to cede her public lands — Congress of 1790 
— Slavery petitions. 

The long and bloody struggle against British 
oppression was now closed. That independence 
in political action, for which the colonies had 
dared and suffered so much, was acknowledged 
and confirmed. They were henceforth, in the 
eyes of all Europe, free and sovereign states. But 
they had yet many difificulties to encounter. They 
were about to take upon themselves a form of 
government, the permanence of which all pre- 
vious examples had shown to be precarious and 
uncertain. In addition to this cause for reason- 
able doubt, there were others equally calculated 



234 HISTOBY OF GEOKGIA. 



to operate injuriously to the free working of the 
new institutions. 

The war was indeed over, and peace once more 
smiled upon the land ; but the disruption of so- 
cial ties during a prolonged contest, the depressed 
condition of trade, the interruptions which com- 
merce had so long experienced, and above all, 
the heavy load of debt by which the nation was 
encumbered, rendered the experiment of self- 
government not merely hazardous in the extreme, 
but, in the opinion of many profound thinkers, 
certain to end, after the lapse of a few years, in 
the entire destruction of the commonwealths. 

One of the first acts of the disenthralled states 
showed a thoughtful recognition of the future. 
They proposed a re-organization of the federal 
government with powers equal to the importance 
of its functions. 

Delegates from six states, responding to the 
call of Virginia, met at Annapolis in September, 
1786 ; but finding their number so few, and the 
powers of several of them very much restricted, 
they resolved to recommend a convention of dele- 
gates from all the states, to meet at Philadelphia 
the following May, to consider the articles of 
confederation, and to propose such changes 
therein as might render them adequate to the 
exigencies of the Union. 

The proposal was transmitted to all the state 
legislatures, and was presently laid before Con- 



CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 235 



gress. At first, it was received with marked 
coolness ; but circumstances occurring soon after 
that rendered some action of the kind imperatively ' 
necessary, the proposed convention was sanctioned 
and approved, and delegates chosen from all the 
states, except Khode Island and New Hampshire. 

Although the 14th of May was the day ap- 
pointed for the meeting of the convention, on 
the 25th there were but seven states represented. 

By the end of the month, however, fifty dele- 
gates from eleven states were present — men 
highly distinguished for talents, character, prac- 
tical knowledge, and public services. 

Of this convention Washington was elected 
President. The rules of proceeding adopted 
were copied chiefly from those of Congress. 
Each state was to have one vote ; seven states 
were to constitute a quorum ; all committees 
were to be appointed by ballot, and the debates 
to be conducted with closed doors and under the 
injunction of secrecy. 

The first questions which were considered re- 
lated to the ratio of representation and the rule 
of voting in the national legislature ; whether it 
should be by state, or by the individual members. 
The small states desired to retain that equal vote 
which, under the confederation, they already 
possessed. The larger states, on the other hand, 
were firmly resolved to secure to themselves, 
under the new arrangement, a weight propor- 



236 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



tionate to tlieir superior wealth and numbers. 
Georgia, and the two Carolinas, anticipating a 
speedy increase of population, voted with the 
larger states, and representation by population 
was thus carried by a majority of one only. 

The election of the first branch of the national 
legislature by the people was strongly opposed 
by Roger Sherman and Elbridge Gerry ; the 
latter of whom said : — " All the evils we expe- 
rience flow from excess of democracy. The 
people do not want virtue, but are the dupes of 
pretended patriots. In Massachusetts, they are 
daily misled into the most baleful measures and 
opinions. He had been too republican hereto- 
fore, but had been taught by experience the 
danger of a levelling spirit." 

In reply to this, Madison and others argued 
that no republican government could stand with- 
out popular confidence, which confidence could 
only be secured by giving to the people one 
branch of the legislature. 

In this opinion the delegates from Georgia co- 
incided, and voted for the resolution, which was 
successfully carried, in opposition to the neigh- 
bouring delegates from South Carolina, who 
thought a choice by the people impracticable in 
a scattered population. 

The election of senators now came up, and 
after much debate, it was agreed that their nomi- 
nation should emanate from the second branch of 



DEBATES IN THE CONVENTION. 237 



the state legislatures ; and it was carried by a 
vote of six states to five, that the same ratio of 
representation should prevail in both branches. 
When the question arose, " Whether the execu- 
tive should consist of one person or several?" it 
gave rise to considerable hesitancy among the 
members. At length, James Wilson, of Pennsyl- 
vania, moved that it be composed of a single 
person. 

After an animated debate, during which C. 
Pinckney, of South Carolina, denounced unity in 
the executive officer as the <' foetus of monarchy," 
the motion was carried ; Georgia voting in the 
affirmative. 

The mode by which the executive should be 
elected was next discussed. Wilson proposed at 
first, doubtfully, the election by the people ; and, 
subsequently, by a college of electors chosen by 
the people : Sherman proposed an election by 
the national legislature ; and this was at length 
acceded to as part of the plan. 

The term of office was then fixed, after con- 
siderable varying, at seven years, with ineligi- 
bility afterward. The Georgia members — who 
preferred three years with re- eligibility — voting 
with the minority. 

A motion to allow the executive a modified 
veto was next carried ; making a vote of three- 
fourths in both branches necessary to pass laws 
objected to by the executive. 



238 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



Considerable excitement having arisen from 
the determination of the larger states not to ad- 
mit an equality of representation in the second 
branch of the legislature, Paterson, of New 
Jersey, brought forward a counter scheme. 

This counter project, and the plan just re- 
ported to the house, were referred to a new com- 
mittee of the whole, and the entire question of 
a national government, or not, had again to be 
gone over. 

The report of the committee of the whole being 
now taken up, each article of the plan previously 
passed was separately considered anew ; many 
alterations were suggested, and several were 
made. 

Two difficulties, however, presented them- 
selves, in so serious an aspect, that they threat- 
ened to result in the breaking up of the conven- 
tion. 

The first of these arose from the determination 
of the smaller states to agree to no plan which 
did not concede an equality of representation in 
the second branch of the national legislature. 

As a last resource, the convention appointed a 
grand committee of conference, consisting of one 
member from each state. 

In this committee, the proposition of Franklin, 
giving to the first branch of the legislature one 
representative for every forty thousand persons, 
according to the three-fifths ratio, with the sole 



DEUATES IN THE CONVENTION. 239 



power to originate money-bills : and to the second 
branch, an equal representation by the states ; 
was reluctantly acquiesced in by the larger states, 
and thus this vexatious question was settled. 

The rule of apportionment was another diffi- 
culty. Paterson, of New Jersey, considered a 
mere reference to wealth and numbers too vague ; 
and asked, "if negroes, being regarded in the 
light of property in the states to which they 
belong, are not represented in those states, why 
should they be represented in the general govern- 
ment ?" 

King contended for a compromise between 
the north and south, and argued that as eleven 
of the thirteen states had agreed to consider 
slaves in the apportionment of taxation, taxation 
and representation ought to go together. 

Gouverneur Morris expressed great apprehen- 
sions of the new states to be formed in the west ; 
and proposed to leave the future apportionment 
of members of the first branch to the discretion 
of the legislature. Edmund Randolph, sup- 
ported by Mason and Wilson, objected to any 
such arrangement, as it would put the majority 
into the power of the minority. The for,\ner, 
therefore, proposed that future appointments 
should be regulated by a periodical census. 

Williamson, of Maryland, moved, as a substi- 
tute, to reckon in this census the whole number 
of freemen, and three-fifths of all others. Butler 



240 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



and C. Pinckney insisted that all the slaves 
ought to be counted. Gerry thought three-fifths 
quite enough. Gouverneur Morris denounced the 
three-fifths clause as an encouragement to the 
slave-trade, and an injustice to human nature. 

Wilson, while professing his ignorance of the 
principles upon which the admission of the blacks 
could be explained, acknowledged the existence 
of difiiculties which were only to be overcome by 
a spirit of compromise. The voting now com- 
menced. Butler's motion to count blacks equally 
with whites was rejected : Georgia voting in the 
affirmative. 

The three-fifths clause, moved by AYilliamson, 
was also voted down. Randolph's periodical 
census was next rejected. The question then 
recurring on the report of the special committee, 
authorizing the legislature to regulate future ap- 
portionments on the basis of wealth and numbers, 
Gouverneur Morris moved a preliminary proviso, 
that taxation should be in proportion to repre- 
sentation, which, being restricted to direct taxa- 
tion, was unanimously agreed to. 

Davie, of North Carolina, now rose and de- 
clarpd, " it was time to speak out. He saw that 
it was meant by some gentlemen to deprive the 
southern states of any share of representation 
for their blacks. He was sure North Carolina 
would never confederate on any terms that did 
not rate them at least as three-fifths. If the 



DEBATES IN THE CONVENTION. 241 



eastern states meant therefore to exclude tliem 
altogether, the business was at an end." 

This plain speaking brought matters to a crisis. 
After several ineffectual attempts to restore har- 
monious action in the convention, a motion was 
made bj Randolph to adjourn till the morrow ; 
" to devise, (as he said,) if possible, some concilia- 
tory expedient ; or, in case the small states con- 
tinued to hold back, to take such measures — what 
he would not say — as might seem necessary." The 
adjournment was carried. The delegates from 
the larger states met in consultation, but nothing 
could be agreed upon. The next day the ques- 
tion was set at rest by a failure of the motion to 
reconsider, and the convention proceeded to take 
up the remaining articles of the report. 

The provisions respecting the national legisla- 
ture having thus been decided upon, the conven- 
tion passed to the articles on the executive, and 
after two warm debates, succeeded, with some 
few modifications, in completing them. 

In the articles relating to the judiciary, no 
essential change was made. 

The amended report was now referred to a 
committee of detail, which, after an adjournment 
of ten days, brought in their report — a rough 
sketch of the constitution as it now stands. 

This draft gave to the national legislature the 
name of Congress ; the first branch to be called 
the House of Representatives ; the second branch 

21 



242 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



the Senate. The name of President was given to 
the executive. 

In detailing the powers of Congress, some new 
provisions had been introduced by the committee, 
w^hich were the occasion of exciting considerable 
feeling in the convention. Tliose subjects which 
elicited the strongest opposition were the taxes 
on exports, the regulation of commerce, and the 
importation of slaves. 

The eastern ship-owning states were in favour 
of empowering Congress to enact navigation laws, 
■^he southern states dreaded any such laws, as 
likely to enhance the cost of transportation. 

The prohibition of the slave-trade was no now 
idea. The Continental Congress had long before 
resolved " that no slave be imported into any of 
the United States." 

Delaware, Virginia, and Maryland, and all the 
more northern states, had expressly acquiesced 
in the prohibition. Notwithstanding this, mer- 
chant vessels belonging to the northern states 
continued to carry on the traffic elsewhere, and 
already, since the acknowledgment of independ- 
ence, some New England ships were engaged in 
transporting slaves from Africa into Georgia and 
South Carolina ; and the latter expressed them- 
selves determined to maintain, not the institution 
of slavery only, but the importation of slaves 
likewise. 

In the midst of this conflict of interests, a 



COMPROMISES. 243 



bargain was struck between the commercial re- 
presentatives of the northern states and the dele- 
gates of South Carolina and Georgia, bj which 
the unrestricted power of Congress to enact 
navigation laws was conceded to the northern 
merchants, and to the Carolina rice-planters, as 
an equivalent, twenty years' continuance of the 
slave-trade. 

This was the third great compromise of the 
constitution. The other two were the conces- 
sion to the smaller states of an equal representa- 
tion in the senate, and to the slaveholders the 
counting three-fifths of the slaves in determining 
the ratio of representation. 

After some few other amendments, offered with 
a view to conciliate conflicting interests, the con- 
stitution as reported received its final corrections 
and the sanction of the convention. 

This sanction was not given by the members 
of the convention without a gloomy presentiment 
that its numerous imperfections would lead to the 
ruin of the confederacy. 

Mason declared his belief that the proposed 
constitution would terminate in a monarchy, or a 
tyrannical aristocracy. Randolph, Mason, and 
Gerry, all expressed their dissatisfaction at the 
extended and indefinite powers conferred on 
Congress and the executive. Pinckney, and 
other southern members, on the contrary, ob- 



244 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



jected to the contemptible weakness and depend- 
ence of the executive. 

So opposite and inharmonious were the feel- 
ings of the members in relation to the instru- 
ment, the articles of which they had examined 
and passed clause by clause, that it required all 
the address of Franklin and other influential 
members, to gain for the new constitution unani- 
mous signature. 

A form was proposed which might be signed 
without implying personal approval of the con- 
stitution ; it read thus : ^' Done by consent of 
the states present. In testimony whereof we 
have subscribed, &c." Hamilton, though opposed 
to the plan, urged the infinite mischief that might 
arise from refusing to sign it. Washington also 
addressed the convention in its favour. These ap- 
peals succeeded with some of the dissatisfied mem- 
bers, but Randolph, Mason, and Gerry could 
not be prevailed upon to subscribe their names. 

The federal constitution, thus laboriously pro- 
duced, was laid before Congress, then sitting at 
New York, with a letter from its framers recom- 
mending its reference, for approval or rejection, 
to state conventions, to be called by the state legis- 
latures. Congress hesitated at first in comply- 
ing with this request ; but finally, on September 
28th, 1787, a bill was passed, transmitting the 
document to the state legislatures, to be acted 
npon as the convention had suggested ; and in 



WESTERN LANDS CEDED. 245 



the beginning of the year 1788, it was formally 
ratified by the state of Georgia. 

During the latter part of 1787, an important 
territorial suit occurred between the states of 
Georgia and South Carolina. This suit origi- 
nated in difficulties relative to their respective 
boundaries toward the sources of the Savannah, 
and especially as to the jurisdiction of the terri- 
tory west of the Alatamaha, claimed by Carolina 
under her charter, and by Georgia under the 
proclamation of 1763, which annexed to Georgia 
the territory between the Alatamaha and the St. 
Mary's. It was finally arrranged by mutual con- 
sent, and on the 22d of iVpril the settlement was 
announced to Congress, and the suit discontinued. 

Georgia, being now loudly called upon for the 
cession of her western claims, offered to cede all 
the territory west of the Chattahoochee, and 
between the thirty-first and thirty-second paral- 
lels of north latitude ; but demanded, in return, 
a guarantee of the remaining territory north of 
the thirty-second parallel. To this. Congress 
would not accede ; nor would it accept the terri- 
tory ofi'ered, unless so extended as to include all 
the district west of the Chattahoochee. After 
the lapse of several years, a cession was finally 
obtained by purchase, and on conditions very 
onerous to the United States. 

During the session of Congress in 1790, and 
in the midst of the agitation as to the public 



246 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



debt, the house became involved in another dis- 
cussion, still more exciting, in reference to sla- 
very and the slave-trade. 

Slavery still existed in every state of the 
Union, except Massachusetts. In the latter state 
it had been abolished a few years previous ; while 
Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and 
New Hampshire, had introduced a system of 
gradual emancipation. The other eight states 
retained their old colonial systems. 

A few days after the commencement of the 
debate on the public debt, a petition from the 
yearly meeting of the Quakers of Philadelphia, 
seconded by another from the Quakers of New 
York, had been laid before the house, in which 
it was suggested whether, " notwithstanding seem- 
ing impediments, it was not in the power of Con- 
gress to exercise justice and mercy, which if ad- 
hered to, the petitioners did not doubt would 
produce the abolition of the slave-trade." 

A still stronger petition was laid before the 
house the next day from the Pennsylvania Society 
for the Abolition of Slavery. It was signed by 
Franklin as president — one of the last public acts 
of his long and diversified career. He died within 
a few weeks afterward. 

This memorial, after reasoning upon the pro- 
positions ''that all mankind are formed by the 
same Almighty Being," and "that equal liberty 
was originally the portion, and is still the birth- 



ABOLITION PETITIONS. 247 



right of all men," concluded by praying Con- 
gress, '« to step to the very verge of its power 
for discouraging every species of traffic in the 
persons of our fellow men." 

These petitions gave rise to a most exciting 
series of debates. Hartley called up the Quaker 
memorial, and moved its commitment. Tucker 
and Burke opposed it on the ground of unconsti- 
tutionality; and the latter expressed himself 
certain that the commitment <« would sound an 
alarm, and blow the trumpet of sedition through- 
out all the southern states." Scott defended 
its constitutionality, but acknowledged the in- 
capacity of Congress to do more than lay a tax 
of ten dollars upon the head of every slave im- 
ported into the country. Jackson argued from 
Bible authority, that religion and slavery were 
not incompatible. Sherman could see no diffi- 
culty in committing the memorial, and trusted 
the committee would be able to bring in such a 
report as would satisfy both sides of the house. 
Baldwin regretted the introduction of petitions 
upon so delicate a subject. He referred to the 
difficulty which the members who framed the 
constitution had previously experienced. He 
reminded the house that the constitution had 
only been adopted by mutual concessions, and 
that any encroachment beyond its strict limits 
must tend to unsettle the public confidence. He 
concluded by arguing that, as the petition did in 



248 HISTORY OF GEORGIi^. 



fact pray for the abolition of the slave-trade, 
the house had nothing more to do with it than it 
would have to establish an order of nobility or 
a national religion. 

Similar ground was taken by Smith of South 
Carolina. He contended that the unconstitution- 
ality of the object prayed for was a sufificient 
reason for not committing the memorial. He said 
further : " When we entered into a political con- 
nection with the other states, this property was 
there. It had been acquired under a former go- 
vernment, conformably to the laws and consti- 
tution ; and every attempt to deprive us of it 
must be in the nature of an ex post facto law, and, 
as such, forbidden by our political compact." 

Madison, Page, and Gerry advocated the com- 
mitment. The former suggested that, " Though 
Congress were restricted by the constitution from 
immediately abolishing the slave-trade, yet there 
were a variety of ways by which they might 
countenance the abolition of that trafic. They 
might, for example, respecting the introduction of 
slaves into the new states to be formed out of the 
western territory, make regulations such as were 
beyond their power in relation to the old settled 
states ; an object which he thought well worthy of 
consideration." 

The question being taken by yeas and nays, 
the reference was carried, forty-three to eleven 
Of these eleven, six were from Georgia and Caro 



DISCUSSION ON SLAVERY. 249 



Una, being all tlie members present from those 
two states ; two were from Virginia, two from 
Maryland, and one from New York. 

The special committee to whom the memorial 
was referred consisted of one member from each 
of the follow^ing states : New Hampshire, Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, and Virginia. They reported, after 
a month's delay, the following resolutions : 

1st. That the general government was ex- 
pressly restrained until the year 1808, from pro- 
hibiting the importation of slaves. 

2d. That by a fair construction of the consti- 
tution. Congress was equally restrained from 
interfering to emancipate slaves within the 
states. 

3d. That Congress had no power to interfere 
in the internal regulation of particular states 
relative to the physical or moral w^ell-being of 
slaves, or to the seizure, transportation, and sale 
of free negroes ; but entertained the fullest con- 
fidence in the wisdom and humanity of the state 
legislatures, that, from time to time, they would 
revise their laws, and promote these and all other 
measures tending to the happiness of the slaves. 

4th. That Congress had authority to levy a tax 
of ten dollars upon every person imported under 
the special permission of any of the states, 

5th. That Congress had power to interdict, or 
to regulate the African slave-trade so far as it 



250 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



miglit be carried on by citizens of the United 
States for the supply of foreign countries. 

6th. That Congress had a right to prohibit 
foreigners from fitting out vessels in the United 
States, to be employed in the supply of foreign 
countries with slaves from Africa. 

The seventh, and last, expressed an intention 
on the part of Congress to exercise their au- 
thority to its fall extent to promote the humane 
objects aimed at in the memorial. 

Such was the report of the committee, upon 
which there immediately ensued a discussion of 
six days' duration, and of the most angry and 
violent character. 

The final conclusions to which Congress came 
upon this most delicate subject are embodied in 
the following resolutions, which were carried by 
a vote of twenty-nine to twenty-five. 

" That the migration or importation of such 
persons as any of the states now existing shall 
think proper to admit, cannot be prohibited by 
Congress prior to the year 1808. 

" That Congress have no authority to inter- 
fere in the emancipation of slaves, or in the treat- 
ment of them in any of the states, it remaining 
with the several states alone to provide any regu- 
lations therein which humanity and true policy 
require. 

" That Congress have authority to restrain the 
citizens of the United States from carrying on 



RESOLUTIONS ON SLAVERY. 251 



the African slave-trade for the purpose of sup- 
plying foreigners with slaves, and of providing 
by proper regulations for the humane treatment, 
during their passage, of slaves imported by the 
said citizens into the said states admitting such 
importation. 

" That Congress have also authority to pro- 
hibit foreigners from fitting out vessels in any 
port of the United States for transporting per- 
sons from Africa to any foreign port." 

A clear view of this remarkable discussion, 
together with the results arrived at by the Con- 
gress of 1790, has become of singular importance 
at this time from the many attempts which have 
been subsequently made, and are yet apparently 
in contemplation, in relation to this vexed ques- 
tion of slavery. 

The whole course of the debate upon this ques- 
tion is instructive, and shows that the arguments 
which have been used in later days are by no 
means novel, nor have they acquired any new 
force beyond those which were presented at the 
period when the first memorial was fully and ably 
discussed, and the suggestions growing out of it 
so pointedly disposed of. 



252 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



CHAPTER XXIL 

Recapitulation of the various treaties made between Georgia 
and the Indians — Oglethorpe's treaty — Treaty of Augusta — 
Florida restored to the Spaniards — Frontier war commenced 
■ — Treaty of Galphinton — Treaty of Shoulderbone — Conti- 
nuation of Indian hostiUties — Washington appoints commis- 
sioners to treat with McGillivray — Romantic history of the 
latter — Conference at Rock Landing — Failure of negotiations 
— Colonel Willett sent on a secret mission^ — Interview with 
McGillivray — Indian council at Ositchy — Speech of the Hol- 
lowing King — McGillivray departs for New York — His 
reception — Treaty of New York — Its reception by Georgia 
— Dissatisfaction of the Creeks — Bowles the freebooter — 
McGillivray in Florida — Capture of Bowles. 

No sooner was the inclepencieiice of the United 
States acknowledged bj Great Britain, than Geor- 
gia began to increase both in wealth and popula- 
tion. She had, however, manj sources of dis- 
quietude, some of which were of an alarming 
character. To enable the reader the better to 
understand what follows, it will be necessary to 
recapitulate briefly, the previous history of the 
negotiations between Georgia and the Creeks and 
Cherokees. 

The first boundaries of the province, as con- 
ceded to Oglethorpe by treaty, were confined to. 
a narrow strip of country lying between the Sa- 
vannah and Ogechee rivers. By the subsequent 



INDIAN TREATIES. 253 



treaty of 1773, these boundaries were extended 
north of the original lines, and beyond Broad 
River. 

By another treaty, concluded at Augusta on the 
31st of May, 1783, the Cherokee delegates ceded 
to Georgia the country upon the western side of 
Tugalo, including the head waters of the Oconee. 
To this cession, a few Creeks subscribed their 
names on the 1st of November of the same year. 
A very large majority of the nation, who had 
always been adverse to the sale of their lands, 
denounced the r act in the strongest terms, and 
expressed a resolution to maintain their right to 
the soil. 

As Georgia persisted in asserting her sove- 
reignty over the territory thus acquired, a hostile 
feeling was, naturally enough, engendered among 
the Indians of those towns whose delegates were 
not present at Augusta when the treaty was 
signed. 

In addition to this fruitful source of future 
difi&culty, by an arrangement entered into be- 
tween Great Britain and Spain, in the early part 
of the year 1783, the former restored to the latter 
her old province of Florida ; and by this means, 
Georgia was again made to suffer many annoy- 
ances at the hands of her ancient neighbour and 
enemy. 

In 1785, the dissatisfaction between the Creeks 
and Georgians being fomented by the artifices of 

22 



254 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



the Spaniards, a border war commenced, wliich the 
provisional government, then struggling through 
the last stages of the Revolutionary war, sought 
to close peacefully by sending commissioners to 
treat with the Creeks and Cherokees for the pur- 
chase of their lands. The commissioners thus 
appointed invited delegates from the Indian towns 
to meet them at Galphinton; but as only the 
chiefs from two towns, with fifty warriors, at- 
tended, the object of the mission was not attained, 
and the commissioners returned home. 

They had no sooner left the appointed place 
of rendezvous, than three commissioners — whom 
Georgia, tenacious of her rights, had despatched 
thither to protest against any proceedings on 
the part of the provisional government — con- 
cluded a treaty with the Creeks then present, 
which confirmed not only the treaty of 1783, but 
extended the territorial limits of Georgia, from 
the junction of the Oconee and Ocmulgee to the 
St. Mary's River. 

The treaty thus made was, like its predecessor, 
indignantly spurned by the chiefs of ninety-eight 
towns ; who denied the right of any two of their 
country to make a cession of land which could 
only be valid by consent of the whole nation as 
joint proprietors in common. 

Numerous collisions between the Georgians and 
the Indians succeeded. At length, a meeting for 
the purpose of settling existing differences was 



INDIAN TROUBLES. 255 



agreed upon, and in October, 1786, commission- 
ers on the part of Georgia met a delegation of 
Creek chiefs and warriors, at a place called 
Shoulderbone, on the Oconee. 

Here another treaty was entered into, which 
the Creeks subsequently asserted was wrung from 
them by the unexpected presence of a large body 
of armed men professing hostile intentions. 

This charge the authorities of Georgia most 
emphatically denied. They contended that all 
the grants were procured fairly and honourably, 
and without either force or coercion ; that the 
upper Creeks, who never occupied the Oconee 
lands, had no right to a voice in the matter. 
They admitted that armed troops were present at 
the treaty of Shoulderbone, — -not, however, to 
provoke hostilities, but to suppress them if they 
arose. 

Incursions and retaliations of course continued. 
Congress several times sought to interpose, but 
the Creeks would listen to no overtures until the 
Georgians were first removed from the Oconee 
lands. 

In an earnest endeavour to put an end to 
this state of things, General Washington — who 
was now president — appointed four commission- 
ers to treat with the celebrated Creek chief, Alex- 
ander McGillivray. This extraordinary man was 
the son of Lachlan McGillivray, an enterprising 
Scotsman of good family, trading among the In- 



256 HISTOKY OF GEORGIA. 



dians, and of Selioy Marchand, a beautiful half- 
breed Creek girl, whose mother was of the tribe 
of the Wind, the most powerful and influential 
family in the Creek nation. The advantages in 
the way of commercial facilities which this mar- 
riage gave to the elder McGillivray, enabled him 
to rapidly accumulate a large fortune. Besides 
plantations and negroes upon the Savannah 
River, Lachlan McGillivray soon became the 
owner of stores filled with Indian merchandise, 
in the towns of Savannah and Augusta. 

When his son Alexander had reached the age 
of fourteen years, he withdrew him, with the con- 
sent of his mother, from the Creek nation, in the 
midst of which he had hitherto resided, and placed 
him in a school at Charleston ; from whence, on 
the completion of his studies, he was transferred 
to a counting-room in Savannah. But a mercan- 
tile life was soon discovered to be unfitted for a 
youth of Alexander McGillivray's studious and 
retiring disposition ; and he was sent back to 
Charleston, to acquire, under the teaching of a 
clergyman of that city, a knowledge of the Greek 
and Latin languages. 

As he grew up to manhood, the remembrance of 
his youthful forest haunts ; the sports and games 
of the tribe to which he was allied by blood ; the 
faces of the dusky warriors, who regarded him as 
their future chief ; and the mother and sister who 
still resided on the banks of the Coosa, proved 



ALEXANDER M<-GILLIVEAT. 257 



stronger than the ties which civilized society had 
thrown around him. With the old wdld-woods 
feeling stirring his heart, he turned his back upon 
the settlements of the whites, and rejoined the 
warriors who had cherished his childish years in 
the midst of their sylvan recesses. 

His return was warmly welcomed. Crafty, 
sagacious, enterprising, and well educated, he was 
gradually enabled so to extend his influence over 
the Creek and Cherokee nations, that in a few 
years he was invested with the supreme authority, 
to which he was entitled by his birth, according to 
the Indian custom. 

When the Revolutionary war broke out, Alex- 
ander McGillivray received the rank and pay of 
a colonel in the British service, and during the 
whole of that eventful period remained, like his 
father, a firm and devoted loyalist ; often acting 
in concert with McGirth and his Florida rangers, 
in harassing the frontiers of Georgia. 

As the war drew to a close, the British were 
compelled to evacuate Savannah, taking with 
them many active and influential loyalists, among 
whom was Lachlan McGillivray. Having suc- 
ceeded in getting together a considerable portion 
of his wealth, the elder McGillivray returned to 
his own country, entertaining the hope that in 
his absence his wife and family, then living in 
the Creek nation, might be sufi'ered to take 
peaceable possession of the plantations and ne- 

22* 



258 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



groes lie had abandoned. The confiscation of the 
property of fugitive loyalists soon after, not only 
frustrated the hopes of McGillivray, but com- 
pelled his wife and daughters to remain at their 
old home on the Coosa. 

Colonel McGillivray, the son, — who had some 
time before this become the principal chief of the 
Creek and Cherokee nations, — finding himself 
thus deprived, at one blow, of British protection 
and the estates previously owned by his father, 
threw himself into the arms of Spain, with whose 
authorities in Florida he formed, on behalf of his 
nation, a treaty of alliance. 

The chief reasons which induced him to court 
this alliance arose from his apprehensions of the 
Americans, who, as he contended, had confiscated 
his estates, banished his father, threatened him 
with death, and were constantly encroaching upon 
the Creek soil. The Spaniards wanted no lands, 
desired only his friendship, and had not en- 
croached upon him or his people. Besides, they 
were the first to offer him promotion and commer- 
cial advantages. When he had signed the treaty, 
they made him a Spanish commissary, with the 
rank and pay of a colonel. 

The commissioners appointed by Washington, 
reached Rock Landing on the Oconee about the 
middle of September, 1789, where they found 
McGillivray, who, at the head of two thousand 
warriors, had been encamped on the eastern bank 



NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE CREEKS. 259 



of the river for more than a week. The commis- 
sioners pitched their camp on the "western bank. 

For several days the prospect of attaining the 
object the commissioners had in view seemed pe- 
culiarly favourable. They had several private 
conferences with McGillivray, by whom they were 
received with great courtesy and politeness. The 
chiefs, also, whom they visited previous to open- 
ing more formal negotiations, appeared to be 
animated with the most friendly spirit. All the 
indications promised to result in a treaty satisfac- 
tory to both parties. 

On the 24th, negotiations were commenced, 
and a copy of the proposed treaty read to the 
Indians. It stipulated that the boundaries de- 
fined by the former treaties entered into between 
the Creeks and Georgians should remain un- 
changed ; that the United States would guarantee 
the territory west of those boundaries to the 
Creeks for ever ; that a free trade should be es- 
tablished with the Indians from ports upon the 
Alatamaha, through which they could import and 
export, upon the same terms as the citizens of 
the United States ; and that all negroes, horses, 
goods, and American citizens taken by the In- 
dians, should be restored. 

It is a matter of surprise to this day, how in- 
telligent commissioners could have supposed that 
a treaty, which took so much from the Indians, 
and granted so little in return, would be accept- 



260 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



able either to McGillivraj or to the chieftains 
under his control. 

Andrew Pickens did indeed remonstrate. He 
well knew that the lands on the Oconee, which 
the Georgians were already cultivating, w^ould 
never be suffered to remain peaceably in the 
possession of the latter, unless some compensation 
was made to the Indians. 

The result justified his sagacity. After the 
commissioners had recrossed the river to their 
own camp, McGillivray and his chiefs met in 
grand council. The next morning the commis- 
sioners were informed by a letter from McGilli- 
vray, that the terms which had been proposed 
were unsatisfactory, and that the Indians had 
resolved to break up their camp and return home. 

The commissioners, startled by so abrupt a 
conclusion to their negotiations, now saw at once 
the whole folly of their course. They sought 
every means to induce McGillivray to remain, 
and begged him to state his grounds of objection 
to the draft of the treaty. But he broke up his 
encampment, and falling back upon the Ockmul- 
gee, wrote from thence a letter to the commis- 
sioners, in which he stated that finding a restitu- 
tion of territory and hunting-grounds was not to 
be the basis of a treaty between them, he had 
resolved to return to the nation and defer all 
further treaty until the next spring. 

The commissioners, thus baffled, returned to 



NEGOTIATIONS. 261 



Augusta, and obtained from Governor Walton a 
statement of the various negotiations between the 
Georgians and the Creeks, together with a list 
of the citizens who had been killed, and of the 
property stolen during the recent hostilities. 

The answers of Governor Walton placed mat- 
ters in so very different a light, both as regarded 
the fair and open manner in which the treaties 
with the Indians had been made, and the great 
injuries sustained by their pitiless depredations, 
that, basing their report upon the evidence laid 
before them, the commissioners expressed an 
opinion favourable to the three treaties made by 
Georgia, and Washington, urged by the demands 
of the Georgia delegation in Congress, was at 
first inclined to embark in a war against the In- 
dian confederacy. 

More prudent counsels, however, prevailed. 
It was found that the expenses of such a war as 
would be necessary to bring the Creeks to terms 
would not be less than fifteen millions of dollars ; 
and it was reasonably feared that the general 
government would not be able to sustain so large 
an outlay while it was struggling with difiiculty 
under the debts incurred during the war of the 
Revolution. 

At length a secret negotiation was determined 
on. Colonel Willctt was selected by Washington 
as the agent to visit the Creek nation by a cir- 
cuitous route, and endeavour to persuade McGil- 



262 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



livray to return with liim to New York, which 
yet remained the seat of the federal government. 

In this mission Willett was eminently success- 
ful. On the 13th of April, 1790, he reached the 
residence of General Pickens, on the Seneca 
River. Having explained to the latter the ob- 
ject of his journey, he was immediately furnished 
with letters to various chiefs and traders within 
the nation, by whom he was received and enter- 
tained with a generous warmth and hospitality, 
which contrasted strangely with the consciousness 
that the country through which he was passing 
was the constant scene of murder and robbery. 
After a journey of ten days through the Chero- 
kee country. Colonel Willett arrived at the house 
of a wealthy trader, by the name of Scott. This 
place was the first Creek settlement to which he 
had penetrated. Learning that McGillivray was 
then on a visit to Ocfuske, on the Tallapoosa 
River, Colonel Willett resolved to continue his 
journey, and at length came up with the Creek 
chief, at the house of Mr. Graison, in the Ilil- 
labees. 

When the letter from General Washington had 
been received and read by McGillivray, he de- 
tained AVillett at Graison's for two days, during 
which time various conversations passed between 
the agent and McGillivray, which, without doubt, 
influenced the subsequent action of the latter. 

Leaving Graison's, the party, accompanied by 



THE HOLLOWING KING. 263 



McGIlllvray and his servant, arrived on the 4th 
of May at the Hickory ground — a portion of 
the Creek territory, which the Indians considered 
holy — where there was a large town, and in it 
one of the residences of the chief. 

From this place McGillivray issued his sum- 
mons to the chiefs of the lower towns, to meet 
him at Ositchey on the 17th of May, for the pur- 
pose of consulting on public business. 

The assembly met at the place appointed, and 
when Colonel Willett had delivered an address 
inviting them to the council-house at New York, 
where General Washington desired with his own 
hand to sign with Colonel McGillivray a treaty 
of peace and alliance, and offering many other 
inducements for the chiefs present to embrace 
the opportunity, he retired, leaving them to de- 
liberate upon his overtures. 

In about an hour after, Colonel Willett was 
again called in, when the Hollowing King ad- 
dressed him in the following speech : 

''We are glad to see you. You have come a 
great way, and as soon as we fixed our eyes upon 
you we were made glad. We are poor, and have 
not the knowledge of the white people. We 
were invited to the treaty at the Rock Landing. 
We went there. Nothing was done. We were 
disappointed, and came back with sorrow. The 
road to your great council-house is long, and the 
weather is hot; but our beloved chief shall go 



264 • HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



with jou, and such others as we may appoint. 
We will agree to all things which our beloved 
chief shall do. We will count the time he is 
away, and when he comes back, we shall all be 
glad to see him with a treaty that shall be as 
strong as the hills and lasting as the rivers. 
May you be preserved from every evil." 

The voice of the upper Creeks expressing 
sentiments similar to those of the lower, no time 
was lost in arranging for the departure of the 
deputation. 

On the 1st of June, Colonel McGillivray, with 
his nephew and two servants, accompanied by 
Colonel Willett, set out from Little Tallasse for 
New York. They were all mounted on horse- 
back, and attended by pack-horses. At the 
Stone Mountain, the Coweta and Cusseta chiefs 
joined them ; and at the house of General Pick- 
ens, they were met by the Tallasse King, Chin- 
nobe, the ''great Natchez warrior," and several 
other chiefs. The deputation being complete, 
twenty-six warriors started for New York in three 
wagons, and four others on horseback. Colonel 
McGillivray and his suite were mounted, the 
agent riding in a sulky. 

Taking the route by way of Guildford, North 
Carolina, the party passed through Richmond 
and Fredericksburg, and arrived at Philadelphia 
on the 17th of July ; having been received every- 



CREEK EMBASSY IN NEW YORK. 265 



where on their journey with marked kindness 
and attention. 

Sailing thence to New York, the chiefs were 
recived by the Tammany Society of that city in 
the full Indian dress of their order, were marched 
in full procession up Wall street, past the Federal 
Hall, where Congress was then in session, and 
from thence to the house of General Washington, 
to whom they were introduced with much pomp 
and ceremony. 

The St. Tammany Society next entertained 
the chiefs at a public dinner. As being the son 
of a Scotsman, McGillivray was chosen an hono- 
rary member of the St. Andrew's Society. 

Spain now began to feel uneasy. The au- 
thorities in Florida and Louisiana no sooner 
learned that McGillivray had departed for 
New York, than the governor-general at Ha- 
vana was notified of the circumstance. After 
some correspondence upon the subject, an agent 
was sent from East Florida with a large sum of 
money, ostensibly to purchase flour, but in reality 
to embarrass the negotiations with the Creeks. 
Washington, apprized of the presence of this 
officer, had his movements so closely watched 
that the object of his mission was defeated. 

Having first advised with the senate as to the 
terms of an arrangement, Washington appointed 
Henry Knox to negotiate with McGillivray and 
the chiefs, and a treaty having been concluded, 

23 



266 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



it was solemnly ratified the day after tlie adjourn- 
ment of Congress. 

By this treaty, all the lands south and west of 
the Oconee, — including the tract recently claimed 
and partly occupied by Georgia, — were solemnly 
guaranteed to the Creeks ; the latter resigning 
all pretensions to any lands north and east of 
that river, and acknowledging themselves to be 
under the sole protection of the United States. 

As an inducement to the Indians to come into 
this arrangement, and to secure their fidelity, it 
was provided that the sum of fifteen hundred dol- 
lars should be paid annually to the Creek nation ; 
while by a secret article agreed upon between 
McGillivray and Washington, annuities of one 
hundred dollars were to be paid to each of the 
principal chiefs, and to McGillivray, as agent of 
the United States, the sum of twelve hundred 
dollars per annum, with the rank of Brigadier- 
general. 

That provision in the treaty of New York, by 
which the United States guaranteed to the In- 
dians the possession of the Oconee lands, created 
an intense excitement in Georgia. An associa- 
tion was formed for settling the lands in defiance 
of the treaty ; but the fire of resistance gradually 
burned itself out. The legislature of the state 
severely criticised the articles of the treaty, but 
recognised its validity, and pledged the faith of 
the state to support it. 



BOWLES THE FREEBOOTER. 267 



On the other hand, the Creeks themselves were 
far from satisfied, and instigated by one Bowles, 
a noted freebooter, who aspired to rival McGil- 
livray in the affections of the Indians, the in- 
fluence of the great chief appeared for some time 
to be gradually on the wane. 

McGillivray, however, was not idle. Knowing 
that his treaty with the United States could not 
be otherwise than most distasteful to the Spanish 
authorities in Louisiana and Florida, he quitted 
the nation and descended to New Orleans, leav- 
ing Bowles and his emissaries to exult in the be- 
lief that he would never dare to ' show his face 
upon the Coosa again. But the rejoicing of the 
freebooter did not last long. His piratical seizure 
of vessels trading under the protection of the 
Spanish flag soon brought him under the notice 
of that nation, which only waited a favourable 
opportunity for his capture. 

In the mean time, McGillivray, who was visit- 
ing Pensacola, Mobile, and New Orleans, suc- 
ceeded in establishing himself in as great favour 
as ever with the Spanish authorities. Here he 
arranged for the capture of Bowles, who was 
shortly afterward brought to New Orleans in 
chains, and sent from thence a prisoner to Spain ; 
while McGillivray, returning to the banks of the 
Coosa, was speedily restored to the affections of 
his nation, and the full exercise of his former 
power. 



268 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

New Constitution adopted — Synopsis — ^Indian territory — Specu- 
lations in wild land — Combined Society — Yazoo companies 
— Sale of Yazoo lands — Sale annulled — Seat of government 
removed to Louisville — Education — University of Georgia 
— Congress passes the fugitive slave law — Liability of states 
to individuals — Land speculations — Fraudulent sale by the 
legislature of Yazoo lands — Sale ratified by Congress — Great 
excitement in Georgia — Yazoo land sales repudiated — 'Records 
burned — Difficulties in relation to the Yazoo sales — Congress 
appoints commissioners to negotiate for the public territory 
of Georgia — Compact entered into — Report of commissioners 
concerning the Yazoo claims — Randolph's resolutions. 

The old constitution of Georgia being neither 
suited to the wants of the people nor the progres- 
sive spirit of the age, a convention was called for 
the purpose of framing a constitution better cal- 
culated to promote the interests of an independent 
state. 

This convention met in 1789, and was in session 
simultaneously with the first session of Congress. 
Taking the Federal Constitution in some respects 
as a model, the legislative power, instead of being 
vested, as before, in a single assembly, was under 
the new instrument to be exercised jointly by a 
senate and house of representatives : the senators 
to be chosen for three years, one by each of the 
eleven counties. They were required to be twenty- 
eight years of age, and to be qualified, like the 



NEW CONSTITUTION ADOPTED. 269 



representatives under the first constitution, by 
the possession of two hundred and fifty acres of 
land, or other property to the value of twelve 
hundred dollars. The qualification of members 
of the house, which body was to consist of thirty- 
five members, was the possession of two hundred 
acres of land, or other property to the value of 
seven hundred dollars. 

No clergyman could be a member of either 
house. The test of Protestantism, required by 
the first constitution, was dispensed with. The 
elective franchise was extended to all male tax- 
paying freemen, the former property qualification 
being dropped. 

The governor was to be chosen biennially ; the 
house to nominate three persons as candidates, 
one of whom the senate was to select ; the candi- 
dates to be thirty years of age, the owners of five 
hundred acres of land within the state, and of 
other property to the value of four thousand four 
hundred and forty-four dollars and forty-four 
cents. 

The powers of the governor were considerably 
enlarged. He was to have the pardoning power, 
except in cases of treason ; the appointment of 
all militia ofiicers, and a veto on all laws not re- 
passed by a two-thirds vote. 

The judges and other civil officers were to be 
chosen by the assembly in the same way with the 
governor ; the judges for three years. The same 



270 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



system of county courts was continued as before, 
to be held by the chief-justice of the state, assisted 
by three local judges for each county ; but the 
assembly was authorized to constitute out of these 
judges a court of errors and appeals, empowered 
to grant new trials. 

This constitution, like the old one, prohibited 
entails, and provided, when there was no will, for 
an equal distribution of all estates, landed as well 
as personal, among all the children. 

All persons were to enjoy the free exercise of 
religion, without being obliged to contribute to the 
support of any religious profession but their own. 

Georgia was rapidly increasing in population, 
and as further constitutional changes might soon 
become necessary, it was provided that a conven- 
tion of three persons from each county should 
meet for that purpose at the end of five years. 

The part of Georgia to which, at this time, the 
Indian title had been extinguished, and which had 
begun to be occupied by settlers, was limited to 
a tract along the Savannah a considerable dis- 
tance above Augusta, and extending westward 
to the Alatamaha, and its eastern branch the 
Oconee. 

The Indians had also ceded the sea-coast be- 
tween the Alatamaha and the St. Mary's, but 
this tract was almost destitute of inhabitants. 
By far the larger part of what now constitutes 
the state was in possession of the Creeks and 



THE COMBINED SOCIETY. 271 



Cherokees. The Georgians, however, claimed in 
sovereignty, with exclusive right of pre-emption 
from the Indians, not only the whole of the pre- 
sent state, but also the district west of the Chat- 
tahoochee, out of which the two states of Alabama 
and Mississippi have since been formed. 

The closing of the Revolutionary war involving 
the older states in great pecuniary embarrass- 
ments, led many persons, who desired to avoid 
the heavy taxation which was the consequence, 
to migrate in search of new lands. An extraor- 
dinary spirit of land speculation was the natural 
result. 

Some ambitious spirits, looking to the western 
and southwestern territory, as offering an oppor- 
tunity for acquiring immense wealth and noble 
domains, formed an association under the name 
of the " Combined Society," and exacted from 
every individual connected with it an oath of 
secrecy as to their plans and movements. 

This society was composed of many persons 
occupying high stations in civil life, who were 
influenced by the love of personal aggrandize- 
ment rather than by sentiments of pure patriot- 
ism, and of soldiers connected with the war of the 
Revolution, who had fought against the British 
arms more from a desire for an oligarchy in 
America, than to throw off a foreign yoke. The 
secrets, however, of this dangerous combination 
becoming known, and the intentions of the mem- 



272 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



bers deservedly stigmatized, the society was dis- 
banded. 

In the year 1789, a notorious swindler, calling 
himself Thomas Washington, but whose real 
name was Walsh, set on foot a speculation in 
public lands, which was subsequently known as 
the Yazoo fraud. 

This man associated himself with others, and, 
instigated by the descriptions of one Sullivan, 
formerly a captain in the Revolutionary army, 
and who had been compelled to fly to the Missis- 
sippi for his life, persuaded the Virginia Yazoo 
Company to apply to the new legislature of Geor- 
gia for permission to purchase an extensive tract 
of Avild land beyond the Chattahoochee. The 
South Carolina and the Tennessee Yazoo Com- 
panies made application at the same time, and 
for the same purpose. All three of the appli- 
cants were successful. The legislature agreed to 
sell out the pre-emption right of seven millions 
of acres to the Virginia Yazoo Company, for 
ninety-three thousand seven hundred and forty- 
two dollars ; five millions of acres to the Carolina 
Yazoo Company, for sixty-six thousand nine hun- 
dred and sixty-four dollars ; and three and a 
half millions of acres to the Tennessee Yazoo 
Company, for forty-six thousand eight hundred 
and seventy-five dollars. 

It was one of the conditions of sale that the 
money should be paid within two years ; but as 



PROMOTION OF EDUCATION. 273 



the companies insisted upon paying, not in cash, 
but in depreciated Georgia paper, a succeeding 
legislature took advantage of that circumstance 
to declare the bargain at an end. All the pur- 
chasers did not assent to this view ; but the con- 
troversy on this subject was soon overshadowed 
by another, which sprang up a few years later, 
growing out of another sale of these same lands 
to other companies. 

The new legislature fixed the seat of govern- 
ment at Louisville, a new town west of Augusta, 
and pretty nearly a central point to the then 
inhabited territory. 

As early as the year 1784, an attempt was 
made to promote the cause of education, by 
Abraham Baldwin, a graduate of Yale, and one 
of the best classical scholars of his time. Though 
he had not been long settled in Georgia, his 
popularity was already so great as to obtain for 
him a seat in the assembly. During the session, 
he originated the plan of the University of Geor- 
gia, and obtained from the legislature a grant of 
forty thousand acres of wild land toward its 
endowment. A board of trustees was organized 
the. following year, but the land being situated 
on the northwestern frontier, the danger of In- 
dian hostilities, joined to the difficulty of finding 
purchasers, kept the fund for many years un- 
available. The country was new, land abundant 
and cheap ; much even of a good quality could 



274 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



be obtained bj merely surveying it, and paying 
the fees for granting. The lands, therefore, of 
the university could not be made available for 
any valuable purpose, and the trustees were 
unable to commence the institution. By the 
treaty of Beaufort, five thousand acres were lost 
by falling into the state of South Carolina. 
None of the lands belonging to the university 
were sold until 1803, and then only a small por- 
tion, and at a low price. Most of them remained 
unsold and unproductive till 1816, when they 
found purchasers, and one hundred thousand 
dollars were vested in bank, as a permanent fund 
for the support of the institution. 

In connection with this subject, it may not be 
improper in this place to show what Georgia has 
done to promote the cause of education through- 
out the state. On the 31st of July, 1783, the 
legislature appropriated one hundred acres of 
land to each county for the support of free 
schools. In 1792, an act was passed appropri- 
ating one thousand pounds sterling for the endow- 
ment of an academy in each county. 

In 1817, two hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
lars were appropriated to the support of poor 
schools. The following year, every tenth and 
one hundredth lot of land in seven new counties 
were set apart for educational purposes ; and in 
1821, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
were devoted to the support of county academies. 



FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. 275 



But although the appropriations by the legis- 
lature have been so liberal, and private subscrip- 
tions to the amount of six hundred thousand 
dollars have aided in advancing so wise and 
humane an object, education has never been more 
than partial, owing to an apathetic indifference 
on the part of the great mass of the popula- 
tion. 

During the session of 1793, the Congress of 
the United States passed an act which, although 
it attracted but little attention at the time, has 
since acquired peculiar importance from its be- 
coming, in its revised and more stringent form, 
the test of harmonious action between the North 
and South. It was an act regulating the sur- 
render of fugitives from justice, and the restora- 
tion of fugitives from service, as provided for in 
the constitution. 

Fugitives from justice, on the demand of the 
executive of the state whence they had fled upon 
the executive of any state in which they might 
be found, accompanied with an indictment or 
affidavit charging crime upon them, were to be 
delivered up, and carried back for trial. 

In case of the escape out of any state or ter- 
ritory of any person held to service or labour 
under the laws thereof, the person to whom such 
labour was due, his agent, or attorney, might seize 
the fugitive and carry him before any United 
States judge, or before any magistrate of the 



276 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



city, town, or county in which the arrest was 
made ; and such judge or magistrate, on proof to 
his satisfaction, either oral or by afiSdavit before 
any other magistrate, that the person seized was 
really a fugitive, and did owe labour as alleged, 
was to grant a certificate to that effect to the 
claimant, this certificate to serve as a sufiicient 
warrant for the removal cf the fugitive to the 
state whence he had fled. 

Any person obstructing in any way such sei- 
zure or removal, or harbouring or concealing 
any fugitive after notice, was liable to a penalty 
of five hundred dollars, to be recovered by the 
claimant. 

Shortly before the termination of the session, 
the Supreme Court of the United States decided 
the first great constitutional question brought 
before it. One Chisholm, being a citizen of 
another state, had brought an action against the 
State of Georgia, to recover a sum of money 
alleged to be due him by that state. This raised 
the question whether the states were liable to 
be sued by individual citizens of other states. 
Judge Iredell, who seemed to lean against the 
jurisdiction, wished to escape a decision on an 
objection to the form of the action. The other 
judges overruled the objection, and held that, as 
the United States constituted one nation, the 
alleged sovereignty of the separate states must 
be considered to be so far modified thereby as to 



LAND SPECULATIONS. 277 



subject them, under the terms of the Constitution, 
to suits in the national courts. 

The day after this decision was pronounced, 
Sedgwick offered a resolution in the house of 
representatives for an amendment to the Consti- 
tution, protecting the states against suits by in- 
dividuals. No action was had on the motion at 
this time, but, subsequently, such an amendment 
prevailed. 

The speculations in wild lands still continued. 
Between the years 1791 and 1795, most of the 
public domain, which had passed into the hands 
of particular states, had become exhausted. All 
the most valuable tracts held by Massachusetts 
had become individual property. Out of seven 
millions of acres owned by New York, five and a 
half millions had been disposed of at a single 
sale. Almost the whole of the large tracts 
which, upon the confiscation of the proprietary 
estates, had come into the possession of Penn- 
sylvania, had been bought up by speculators. 

The latter now turned their attention to the 
lands claimed by Georgia west of the Chattahoo- 
chee, and between that river and the Mississippi. 
In 1794 and 1795, the general assembly passed 
an act conveying to four associations, called by 
the respective names of the Georgia, the Geor- 
gia Mississippi, the Upper Mississippi, and the 
Tennessee Companies, thirty-five millions of 
acres of land, for five hundred thousand dollars, 

24 



278 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



lying between the Mississippi, Tennessee, Coosa, 
Alabama, and Mobile Rivers. The bill authorizing 
the sale was contested in both houses of Con- 
gress. It was passed by a majority of ten in 
the house of representatives and two in the 
senate. The sale of this land, and its ratification 
by Congress, produced great excitement through- 
out Georgia, where it was known that all in the 
state legislature who voted for the bill, with one 
or two exceptions, were directly or indirectly 
bribed. 

From the very beginning of this fraudulent 
scheme. General James Jackson, of Georgia, who 
was then in the senate of the United States, used 
all his influence in opposition to its consummation. 
The defeat of the Yazoo act was the absorbing 
subject of his thoughts. In 1795, yielding to 
the wishes of many of his fellow-citizens, he 
resigned his seat in the senate, and, returning 
home, was elected a member of the legislature, 
by which he was appointed a member of the 
committee authorized to investigate the conduct 
of their predecessors. The whole corruption was 
exposed and overturned ; the odious act was 
repealed, and it was determined to obliterate the 
remembrance of it from history by committing 
the records to the flames. The burning was 
executed with great formality. The two houses, 
moving in procession for that purpose, were pre- 
ceded by a committee bearing the obnoxious 



m 



BURNING OF THE YAZOO LAND ACT. 279 



parchments. A fire having been kindled in front 
of the state-house, the committee handed the do- 
cuments to the president of the senate, he to the 
speaker of the house, he to the clerk, and the 
clerk to the doorkeeper ; who, "while thrusting 
them into the flames, cried out with a loud and 
decisive voice : " God save the state, and long 
preserve her rights, and maj every attempt to 
injure them perish, as these wicked and corrupt 
acts now do !" 

Unfortunately, this solemn repudiation of the 
sale by no means tended to settle the question. 
The original purchasers had already transferred 
their rights to others at a large advance on the 
original purchase-money. These new purchasers 
were not at all disposed to concede the right of 
the legislature of Georgia to nullify the acts of 
their predecessors, especially in a case like the 
present, where the interest of third parties were 
concerned. 

When, therefore, these same lands were subse- 
quently sold by Georgia to the United States, 
Congress was loudly called upon for an indem- 
nity to the claimants under the Georgia grant. 
Nearly twenty years elapsed before the matter 
was brought to a final settlement. 

By an act of Congress in the year 1800, Madi- 
son, Gallatin, and Lincoln, who had been ap- 
pointed commissioners for adjusting with Georgia 
her claims to the territory of Mississippi, were 



280 HISTOllY OF GEORGIA. 



vested with full powers to arrange the whole mat- 
ter ; with the restriction, however, that no money 
was to be paid to Georgia except out of the pro- 
ceeds of the land. 

The agreement thus entered into was not com- 
municated to Congress until late in the session 
of 1802. By the terms of the compact, Georgia 
ceded to the United States all her claims to the 
territory west of what now constitutes her western 
boundary, on condition of receiving out of the 
first net proceeds of the lands sold, the sum of 
one million two hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
lars, the United States undertaking to extinguish, 
at the expense of the federal treasury, the Indian 
title to the lands reserved by Georgia as early as 
the same could be peaceably obtained on reason- 
able terms; especially the Indian title to that 
tract between the Oconee and Ockmulgee. It was 
also provided by the terms of the compact, that 
whenever the population of the territory thus 
ceded should amount to sixty thousand, or earlier 
at the option of Congress, the ceded territory 
was to be erected into a state, on the same terms 
and conditions contained in the ordinance of 
1787 for the government of the territory north- 
west of the Ohio, "that article only excepted 
which prohibits slavery." 

The Yazoo claims never having as yet been 
satisfactorily adjusted, the same commissioners 
who had negotiated with Georgia the cession of 



SETTLEMENT OF YAZOO LAND CLAIMS. 281 



the Mississippi country, having been authorized 
to inquire as to the various land claims in that ter- 
ritory, reported, concerning the. grants of 1795, 
that, whatever grounds of invalidity there might 
be, as between Georgia and the original grantees, 
and even though the contract might not be legally 
binding, as between Georgia and the present 
holders, yet, as those holders claimed to stand, 
and to a certain extent did stand, in the position 
of innocent purchasers without notice, theirs 
seemed a proper case for compromise. Taking 
this view of the matter, the commissioners sug- 
gested the propriety of offering to the claimants 
certificates bearing interest to the amount of two 
millions and a half of dollars, or certificates with- 
out interest for five millions, payable out of the 
earliest receipts for Mississippi lands, after the 
stipulation to Georgia should be satisfied. 

Upon this report was founded an act appro- 
priating whatever might remain of the five mil- 
lions of acres reserved by the compact, after cer- 
tain specified deductions had been made, to the 
quieting of such unconfirmed claims as might be 
exhibited and recorded in the ofiice of the Secre- 
tary of State before the close of the year, and for 
which Congress might see fit to make a provision. 

To this act, Randolph during the next session 
of Congress objected, and moved a series of reso- 
lutions excluding from any compensation whatever 
the claimants under the Yazoo grants of 1795. 

2.4* 



282 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



Almost all the southern, and a few of the north- 
ern members supported the resolutions; but after 
a fierce struggle, they were voted down by a ma- 
jority of five. Thus ended the contest. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

EUicott appointed to run the line between the Creeks and Geor- 
gians — Obstacles — Assertion of Spanish claims to the Indian 
territory — Intrigues of McGillivray — Appointed Superintend- 
ent-general of Spain in the Creek nation' — Irritation of the 
Georgians — Their determined stand — Sickness of McGillivray 
— His death — Frontier excesses — Georgia arms against the 
Indians — Failure of the invasion — Seagrove attends a council 
of the Creek chiefs — Friendly disposition of the Indians — 
Seagrove attacked in his house and plundered — Arrival of 
Genet — His extraordinary course — Fits out privateers — Or- 
ganizes expeditions from Kentucky and Georgia against New 
Orleans and Florida — The Spanish governor remonstrates — 
Course of Governors Shelby and Matthews — Genet recalled 
— Projects of Clarke — Settles the Oconee lands — Ordered off 
• — Refuses — Is driven off by the militia of Georgia. 

In order to carry out in the clearest manner 
the provisions of the treaty of New York, early 
in the year 1791, Andrew Ellicott, a citizen of 
Pennsylvania, was appointed by the federal go- 
vernment to run the line between the Creeks and 
Georgians. He reached Rock Landing upon the 
Oconee in May, accompanied by James Seagrove, 
an Irishman, who had been appointed superin- 
tendent of the Creek nation. At this place the 
government erected a strong fort, and threw into 
it a large garrison. 



SPANISH INTERFERENCE. 283 



From this point, McGillivray was urged to 
obtain the consent of the Indians to the running 
of the boundary line, and their assistance to its 
execution. ' 

Many obstacles as usual occurred. The Spa- 
nish government, alarmed by the treaty of New 
York, now asserted her claims to a considerable 
portion of the territory in question. McGillivray 
attributed the moodiness and discontent of the 
Indians to the machinations of his rival Bowles, 
and, after expressing his inability to control the 
disaffected, retired, as we have already mentioned, 
to Florida, where he remained during the follow- 
ing winter. 

His return to the Coosa, which took place in 
1792, only served to complicate matters which 
were already sufficiently entangled. The ease 
with which he rid himself of the presence of 
Bowles, as soon as he found it his interest to do 
so, showed very clearly, that the reluctance of 
the Creeks to submit to the survey did not ema- 
nate in any great degree from the influence of 
the freebooter. The intrigues of McGillivray 
with the Spanish authorities were the real cause. 
He had scarcely returned from Florida before a 
Spanish agent made his appearance in the nation, 
and took up his abode at the Hickory Ground 
upon the Coosa. The unexpected presence of 
this agent. Captain Don Pedro Oliver, and his 
familiarity with McGillivray, awakened the suspi- 



284 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



cions of Ellicott and Seagrove, who inferred, na- 
turally enough, that McGillivray was not acting 
in good faith with the federal government. The 
supposition, though incapable of proof at the 
time, has since been most abundantly verified. 

Through the remonstrances of William Panton, 
a wealthy merchant of Pensacola, whose partner 
in the Indian trade McGillivray had become, 
the Spanish government appointed the latter 
superintendent-general of the Creek nation, with 
an annual salary of two thousand dollars, which, 
in July of the same year, was increased to three 
thousand five hundred. 

As McGillivray was thus an agent of Spain, 
with an annual salary of thirty-five hundred dol- 
lars, the copartner of Panton, trading from a Spa- 
nish port, and the agent of the United States 
with a salar}?" of twelve hundred dollars, it may 
easily be inferred, though paid by both, toward 
which nation his inclinations leaned. 

The ignorance of Spain in relation to the secret 
article in the treaty of New York, and the equal 
ignorance on the part of the United States of the 
large sum paid yearly to McGillivray by Spain, 
puzzled both parties greatly to account for the 
wavering and uncertain policy of McGillivray, 
which subsequent developments have so clearly 
explained. 

In the mean while, the people of Georgia, wor- 
ried alike by the Spaniards and the Indians, 



\ 



BOUNDARY TROUBLES. 285 



were chafing impatiently at the numerous impedi- 
ments and delays which rendered their frontier 
possessions so constantly insecure. 

Disgusted at length >vith the progress of ne- 
gotiations which presented no prospect of a 
termination, they resolved, that if the United 
States delayed much longer in driving the Spa- 
niards from their territory, to undertake it them- 
selves. 

The opposition of Spain to the survey under- 
taken by the agents of the federal government, 
her refusal to admit of American settlements on 
the Mississippi, joined to her express determina- 
tion to protect the Creeks from any encroach- 
ments on the part of Georgia, tended still more 
to exasperate the latter, and embarrass the action 
of the government. 

Friendly relations existing between McGillivray 
and Governor Carondelet, he continued his visits 
to New Orleans, giving up one of his houses to 
Captain Oliver, whom he had established in the 
affections of his people. In returning from New 
Orleans late in the summer of 1792, a violent 
fever detained him long in Mobile. He finally 
recovered from the attack, and reached Little 
Tallasse, from which place he wrote to Seagrove, 
the Indian agent, -deploring the unhappy disturb- 
ances which existed, and attributing them to 
Spanish interference. This was a mere excuse, 
since the influence which the latter had obtained 



286 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



in the nation had been fostered and encouraged 
by McGillivray himself. 

It is very evident that the great chief never 
cordially allied himself either to the federal 
government or to Georgia. The latter he could 
not help regarding as the natural enemy of his 
people ; a feeling in some measure justified by 
that tenacious and constantly enlarging grasp 
with which the Georgians laid hold of the Creek 
te^rritory. 

But the career of this remarkable man was 
fast drawing to a close. He was always of a 
delicate constitution, and had long suffered from 
a complication of disorders. He was taken ill 
on the path coming from his Cowpen plantation, 
on Little River, and only retained sufficient 
strength to reach the house of his partner, Mr. 
Panton, at Pensacola, where he died eight days 
after his arrival, and was buried in the garden 
of that merchant, whose magnificent fortune he 
had so largely aided in building up. 

No sooner were the politic restraints, with 
which McGillivray had undoubtedly curbed the 
more blood-thirsty of his people, cast loose by 
the death of their beloved man, than the horrors 
of frontier war broke out fiercer than ever. Mur- 
ders were committed in various quarters : on the 
St. Mary's, in the new counties of Camden and 
Glynn, and at the Skull shoals of the Oconee. 

These excesses roused the Georgians to take 



THE CREEK COUNTRY INVADED. 28T 



the law into their own hands. Governor Telfair 
directed a large force to be raised for the in- 
vasion of the Creek country. At the solicita- 
tion of the Georgia delegation in Congress, 
Washington sent to Augusta a large stand of 
arms and ammunition, and authorized Governor 
Telfair to enlist a few companies for the protec- 
tion of the frontiers, but remonstrated against 
the invasion. Telfair refused to accept the 
troops, and paid no heed to the remonstrance. 
He placed General Twiggs at the head of seven 
hundred mounted men, and ordered him into the 
Indian country. 

The army of invasion marched as far as the 
Ockmulgee River, and then, weakened by the 
want of provisions, and rendered perfectly ineffi- 
cient by insubordination, retreated. 

This unfortunate failure incited the Creeks to 
commit still greater excesses. Telfair called out 
a mounted force of militia, which scoured con- 
stantly the country between the Oconee and 
Ockmulgee. Washington again remonstrated; 
when some of the malcontents, forgetful of the 
respect that was due to the President of the 
Republic, vented their indignation by placing 
his effigies upon pine trees and firing at them. 
Seagrove, the accredited agent of the federal 
government, still remained near the Indians, 
communicating with them occasionally through 



288 HISTOKY OF GEORGIA. 

Timothy Barnard, a trustworthj man who resided 
within the nation. 

In March, 1793, a council of the chiefs, con- 
sisting of delegates from the upper and lower 
townSj invited Seagrove to a personal conference. 
To this mission Governor Telfair objected, on 
the ground that it would interfere with his mili- 
tary operations ; and stating further, that Georgia 
would submit to no treaty made with the CreekSy 
where her agents were not permitted to partici- 
pate. 

Seagrove, however, accepted the invitation, 
and after some delay set out from Fort Fidius, 
escorted by a military guard. When he reached 
the Ockmulgee the guard was dismissed, and one 
hundred and thirty warriors accompanied him 
from thence to Cusseta upon the Chattahoochee, 
After being saluted at this place with the beating 
of drums and the fire of artillery, he proceeded 
to the Tallapoosa River, on the west bank of 
which stood Tookabatcha, the capital of the 
nation. 

On the 23d of November, 1793, he addressed 
a vast assembly of the Indians convened for that 
purpose, and in a speech of unusual force and 
vigour, commented upon the character of their 
repeated aggressions and their faithlessness in 
not assisting to carry out the provisions of the 
treaty of New York. 

A deliberation among the chiefs themselves 



SEAGROVE ASSAULTED. 289 



followed, the result of which was, that they 
agreed to deliver into the hands of the agent, 
the negroes, horses, cattle, and other property 
taken from the Georgians during the twelve 
months preceding ; and to put to death several 
of the principals engaged in the late murders 
upon the frontiers. 

But while Seagrove was congratulating him- 
self upon the success of his mission, a party of 
Creeks who preferred treating with commission- 
ers from Georgia, and were opposed to any in- 
terference on the part of the United States, 
combined secretly to attack him. Led by the 
Tallasse king, they entered one night the house at 
which Seagrove was staying, plundered him of 
his property, and forced him to fly for his life and 
hide himself in a deep pond screened by trees 
and bushes. 

In the morning, however, by the interposition 
of friendly chiefs, peace was restored, the agent 
withdrawn from his hiding-place, and subse- 
quently escorted in safety back to the frontiers. 

In addition to that fruitful source of annoy- 
ance, her Indian claims, Georgia had been pro- 
foundly agitated during this year by an event 
which had its origin in the French Revolution. 
This was no other than the arrival at Charleston 
of Citizen Genet, appointed to supersede Ternant 
as ambassador from France. Genet brought with 
him news of the French declaration of war 

25 



290 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



against Great Britain. The people of Charles- 
ton received him with enthusiasm. Being pro- 
vided "with blank commissions, both naval and 
military, he caused to be fitted out two priva- 
teers, manned mostly with Americans, which put 
to sea under the French flag, and, cruising along 
the coast, soon made numerous captures of home- 
ward-bound vessels. He also assumed, under 
a decree of the convention, the extraordinary 
power of authorizing the French consuls through- 
out the United States to erect themselves into 
courts of admiralty for trying and condemning 
such prizes as the French cruisers might bring 
into American ports. 

The federal government, listening to the com- 
j)laints made by the British minister, declared 
that the privateering commissions issued by 
Genet, as well as the condemnation of prizes by 
the French consuls, were unauthorized by treaty, 
irregular, and void. 

Against this decision Genet most vehemently 
protested. Washington remained firm ; but for 
a considerable period it was doubtful whether 
Genet, supported by the fiery enthusiasm of a 
considerable portion of the American people, 
would not be able to place himself beyond the 
control of the federal government. 

France had now also declared war against 
Spain. This rendered the mission of Genet 
most welcome to many of the Georgians, who 



\ 



FRENCH EMISSARIES. 291 



desired nothing more earnestly than to crush, by 
any means whatever, the power of her trouble- 
some neighbour. 

Four French agents were sent by Genet to 
Kentucky, with orders to enlist in that state an 
army of two thousand men ; to engage the ser- 
vices of a distinguished American officer, as com- 
mander-in-chief, and, descending the Ohio and 
Mississippi in boats, attack the Spanish settle- 
ments at the mouth of the Mississippi, and bring 
the whole of that country under the dominion of 
the French republic. The command of this 
force was confided to General George Rogers 
Clarke, who accepted the commission of major- 
general in the service of France, with an annual 
salary of ten thousand dollars. 

Emissaries were also busily engaged at the 
same time in issuing commissions and collecting 
a military force in South Carolina and Georgia. 
The expedition from Kentucky was destined for 
New Orleans ; that which had its appointed ren- 
dezvous in Georgia was intended for the invasion 
of Florida. General Elijah Clarke accepted 
command of the latter, under a commission and 
salary similar to that of General Clarke of Ken- 
tucky. A considerable body of Creeks and Che- 
rokees had likewise been enlisted in the service 
of the French republic. An agent was furnished 
with ten thousand dollars, to purchase supplies 



292 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



for the Georgia army, which was to assemble at 
St. Mary's. 

Alarmed at these preparations, the Governor 
of East Florida remonstrated with the Governors 
of Kentucky and Georgia. 

Governor Shelby, of the former state, in con- 
junction with a considerable portion of the citi- 
zens of Kentucky, who desired a free navigation 
of the Mississippi, was strongly inclined to favour 
the projects of Genet. Governor Matthews, what- 
ever might have been his private feelings in the 
matter, immediately issued a proclamation for- 
bidding the people of Georgia to engage in the 
enterprise. 

Washington also publicly denounced the whole 
project, and authorized the governors of the 
various states within whose limits such expedi- 
tions were forming, to employ the United States 
troops in putting down the contemplated in- 
vasion. 

Kentucky still resisted. Democratic societies 
were established, in imitation of the Jacobin 
clubs of Paris. Inflammatory harangues were 
made, expressive of a determination to force the 
navigation of the Mississippi, untrammelled by 
any foreign authority. The East was charged 
with jealousy of the West and South, and an 
exasperated state of feeling produced, which 
threatened at one time to seriously endanger the 
integrity of the confederation. 



i 



genet's schemes frustrated. 293 



To their honour be it said, Georgia and South 
Carolina supported Washington in this hour of 
difficulty. The schemes of Genet were frus- 
trated, his agents arrested, and his projects dis- 
avowed by the new administrators of the French 
government, who, yielding to the request of 
Washington, consented to recall their obnoxious 
ambassador. Genet, however, being perhaps 
apprehensive of the fate which might befall him, 
did not choose to risk the danger of returning to 
France. He married a daughter of Governor 
Clinton of New York, became a resident of that 
state, and, ceasing to exercise the functions of a 
French minister, soon sunk into almost total 
obscurity. 

This concert of action between the general and 
state governments was by no means pleasing to 
many of the restless spirits who had entered so 
ardently into the schemes of Genet. There were 
at that time large numbers of persons, who, hav- 
ing been actively engaged throughout the whole 
war of the Revolution, had acquired that thirst 
for excitement and those roving habits which a 
war of any continuance is so apt to engender. 
These men found it difficult to settle themselves 
down to any calm and peaceful avocations ; and 
even such as had occupied high stations in the 
army felt it difficult to conform to the new state 
of things. 

Some of this unquiet class of men no sooner 

25* 



294 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



found themselves deprived of the prospects of a 
campaign in Florida, than they turned their 
attention to the possession of the long-disputed 
lands between the Oconee and Ockmulgee. Ge- 
neral Elijah Clarke, the brave old Revolutionary 
veteran, placed himself at the head of this move- 
ment. Accompanied by a large party of Geor- 
gians, he began a settlement opposite Fort 
Fidius, on the west side of the Oconee, and upon 
the lands guarantied by the federal government 
to the Indians. 

General Irwin, on the part of the state, ordered 
him to remove, which he refused to do. Governor 
Matthews forbade by proclamation the contem- 
plated settlement, and accused Clarke of an 
attempt to form a separate and independent go- 
vernment. The latter appeared before the supe- 
rior court of Wilkes county, and surrendered him- 
self for trial. The proceedings partook of the 
nature of a farce. He was found not guilty, and 
discharged. 

Many persons now flocked to his standard. 
His settlements were pushed with vigour ; a town 
was laid off, and Forts Advance and Defiance 
were erected and garrisoned. 

Washington called the attention of the state 
government to this illegal occupation of the In- 
dian territory, and offered the services of troops 
to assist in driving off the settlers. Governor 
Matthews directed Generals Twiggs and Irwin to 



Clarke's settlements. 295 



break up tlie settlements begun by Clarke. This 
duty was performed by the Georgia militia, 
firmly, yet without undue harshness. On the 
25th of September, 1794, General Clarke, find- 
ing himself abandoned by all but twenty of his 
men, surrendered upon condition that his pro- 
perty and the property of the colonists should be 
returned to them. The forts and houses were 
destroyed by fire, and the aifair ended happily 
without the shedding of blood. 



CHAPTEE XXy. 

Council of Coleraine — 'Treaty of New York formally renewed 
and ratified — Discontent of Georgia — Treaty with Spain — 
Settlement of boundaries — Ellicott appointed commissioner 
to run the boundary between Spain and the United States — 
Intrigues of Carondelet — His reluctance to carry out the 
conditions of the treaty — Sends an emissary to Kentucky — 
Fort Panmure summoned by the Americans — Increase of 
American force — Gayoso evacuates Fort Panmure — Survey 
commenced — Interruptions feared from the Creeks — Council 
at Miller's Bluff — Governor Folch, of Pensacola, instigates 
the Creeks to break up the survey — Ellicott proceeds to St. 
Marks — Joins the surveyors on the St. Mary's — Bowles the 
freebooter — Refuses to enter the Spanish service — Sent to 
Manilla — Escapes — Reaches Florida — Is captured — Sent to 
Havana — Dies in Moro Castle. 

The sale of the public lands, entered into by 
the legislature of Georgia in the early part of 
February, 1795, and stigmatized as the Yazoo 
fraud, has been already mentioned in a previous 
chapter. 



296 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 

In May, 1796, commissioners on tlie part of 
the United States and Georgia met the Indians 
in council at Coleraine upon the St. Mary's 
Kiver. The object for which the conference was 
called was the formation of a treaty of peace 
with the Creeks, and the cession of the long- 
contested lands between the Oconee and Ock- 
mulgee. 

A full delegation of Indians were present, con- 
sisting of twenty kings, seventy-five chiefs, and 
three hundred and forty warriors. At the sug- 
gestion of Seagrove, the Indian agent, the coun- 
cil was removed from Coleraine to Muskogee, a 
short distance off. Here a considerable time was 
spent in listening to the speeches of the commis- 
sioners, and in subsequent deliberations. 

At length, on the 29th of June, the chiefs of 
the whole Creek nation concluded a treaty with 
the federal commissioners, by which the treaty 
of New York was formally renewed and ratified ; 
the Indians pledging themselves to carry out its 
provisions, and to assist Spain and the United 
States to run their line ; but they positively 
refused to cede any portion of the Oconee and 
Ockmulgee territory to Georgia. 

This renevv^al of the previous treaty failed to 
satisfy the Georgians, as no new cessions of land 
were obtained ; but it put an end to the mutual 
depredations which had prevailed on that frontier, 



TREATY WITH SPAIN. 297 



and provided for the restoration of prisoners and 
property taken by the Indians. 

Previous to this, Washington had despatched 
Thomas Pinckney on a special mission to Spain, 
which ended in settling at last the long-disputed 
questions of the Spanish boundary, and the navi- 
gation of the Mississippi River. By this treaty, 
which was made on the 20th of October, 1795, 
the Florida boundary was stipulated to be the 
thirty-first degree of north latitude, between the 
Mississippi and Appalachicola ; and east of the 
Appalachicola a line from the junction of the 
Flint to the head of the St. Mary's ; and thence 
by that river to the sea. It was further stipu- 
lated, that Spain should not hereafter form treaties 
of alliance with Indians living upon American 
soil, nor the federal government with Indians 
living upon Spanish territory ; and that Spanish 
and American commissioners should mark the 
boundary before the expiration of six months 
after the ratification of the treaty. 

In order to carry out the latter clause of the 
treaty as speedily as possible, Andrew Ellicott, 
who had waited on the frontiers of the Indian 
territory so long for an opportunity to survey the 
line of the Oconee lands, was appointed a commis- 
sioner on the part of the federal government to 
run the boundary between Spain and the United 
States. He reached Natchez, on the Mississippi, 
in the latter part of February, 1797, and imme- 



298 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



diately commenced negotiations with Don Manuel 
de Lemas, commandant at Fort Panmure, gover- 
nor of the Natchez dependencies, and commis- 
sioner on the part of Spain. 

But Baron Carondelet, the Spanish governor 
of Louisiana, having determined not to comply 
with the treaty, sought by various obstacles to 
oppose the survey of the boundary. He refused 
to deliver up the posts north of the thirty-first 
degree of north latitude, under the pretext that 
he apprehended a British invasion from Canada, 
against which the possession of these posts was 
necessary to an eifectual resistance. Another 
reason alleged by him for still retaining them, 
was the uncertainty he entertained whether, un- 
der the treaty stipulations, the fortifications were 
to be destroyed or left standing. His reluctance 
to acknowledge the validity of the treaty led him 
to violate it still more flagrantly. He sent one 
Thomas Powers as a secret agent to Kentucky, 
to intrigue with the old Spanish partisans in that 
region for the dismemberment of the Union, and 
its erection into an independent state, in close 
alliance w^ith Spain. ]\Iany influential men in 
the west entered zealously into the projec* 
Others who were applied to for the same purposo 
coldly declined to take any part in the enter- 
prise, but kept the intrigue concealed from the 
federal government. 

Meanwhile, Lieutenant McLeary, with an 



PROCEEDINGS AT NATCHEZ. 299 



American force, unfurled the American flag on 
the heights of Natchez, and marching soon after- 
ward to Fort Panmure, demanded its surrender. 
But as the latter, in anticipation of such a sum- 
mons, had been repaired and strengthened with 
men and artillery, Gayozo, the commandant, 
declined to evacuate it, and McLeary had not 
the means of capturing it, either by siege or 
storm. 

Ellicott warmly remonstrated against this 
breach of the treaty, and an angry correspond- 
ence followed. About this time. Lieutenant 
Pope arrived at Natchez with forty men, which 
were added to the American force. Gayozo now 
began to grow alarmed ; but still invented excuses 
for not complying with the demands of the com- 
missioner. ■ The Natchez population, increasing 
rapidly, desired the expulsion of the Spaniards. 
Ellicott insisted that Gayozo should appoint a 
day upon which he would meet him and com- 
mence the survey. The latter answered by 
evasions. Finding the people indisposed to wait 
much longer, he issued a proclamation, announc- 
ing that the treaty would ultimately be complied 
with, but refrained from saying when. The im- 
prisonment of an American citizen by Gayozo 
added to an excitement already sufficiently fierce. 
Public meetings were called, and violent measures 
advocated. Gayozo sought to temporize, but was 
answered by indignant threats. The personal 



300 HISTORY or GEORGIA. 



influence of Ellicott alone prevented the people 
from committing acts of violence. 

In this way nearly a whole year was passed. 
Perceiving, from the continual influx of Ameri- 
cans, that his position was becoming every day 
one of greater danger, Gayozo concluded at 
length to evacuate the fort, and sail with his 
troops lower down the ri^^er. This was done on 
the 29th of March, 1798, and immediately after- 
ward Ellicott proceeded to Tunica Bayou, and 
commenced his survey in a dense swamp, on the 
eastern bank of the Mississippi, where the line 
of thirty degrees strikes it. 

The work had scarcely been commenced before 
the commissioners appointed by Spain joined 
Ellicott. The progress of the survey was, how- 
ever, very slow. It was not until the middle of 
March, 1799, that the line was completed to Mo- 
bile River. The Choctaw nation had ofl*ered no 
resistance to the progress of the party through 
their territory; the Creeks, however, appeared 
more disposed to interfere. It was decided to 
meet the latter in council upon the Conecuh. 
The Spanish governor of Pensacola suggested 
that the proposed council should be held at Pen- 
sacola ; but as the American commissioners sus- 
pected that Governor Folch designed to interrupt 
the survey by fresh intrigues with the Indians, 
they adhered to their former resolution. A con- 
ference was accordingly held at Miller's Bluff, in 



PROGRESS OF THE SURVEY. 301 



the presence of the commissioners of both nations 
and several Spanish officers. The proceedings 
were characterized by great unanimity. The 
Indians appeared satisfied with the explanations 
they received, and consented to assist in running 
the line. 

Baflled by the manly and straight-forward 
course taken by the respective commissioners, 
Governor Folch secretly instigated a large num- 
ber of the Creeks to interrupt the survey by hos- 
tile demonstrations. 

With large bodies of insolent Indian marauders 
hanging upon his rear, and plundering the effects 
of his party, Ellicott pushed the survey to the 
Chattahoochee, where he fortified himself. 

Notwithstanding the resolute conduct of Colo- 
nel Hawkins, who, with a small party of military, 
succeeded in restraining the Indians from plun- 
dering the camp, the commissioners found it 
impossible to proceed any further. The survey- 
ors, attended by the military escort, set out for 
St. Mary's, while Ellicott, embarking in his 
schooner, the rigging of which had been cut to 
pieces by the Indians, propelled her in the best 
way he could down the Appalachicola to St. Marks, 
where he remained at the house of the Spanish 
commandant. Captain Portell, until the schooner 
was repaired. He then sailed around the penin- 
sula, and went up the St. Mary's to the camp of 
the surveyors, where, in conjunction with Captain 

26 



302 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



Mina, the surveyor on the part of Spain, he de- 
termined, on the 20th of February, 1800, the 
point of the line of thirty-one degrees, and to in- 
dicate it erected on the spot a large mound. Thus 
ended a difficult and dangerous survey, which, 
through the treachery and duplicity of Spain, 
had been protracted over a space of three years. 
While Ellicott was on his way to St. Marks, a 
singular adventure befell him which deserves 
something more than a passing notice. At Fox- 
point he found a British schooner wrecked, and 
among the crew the notorious freebooter Bowles, 
he who had been handed over to the Spanish 
governor by McGillivray, and sent in chains to 
Madrid. Knowing that this man was possessed 
of considerable influence among a certain portion 
of the Indian tribes, the Spanish government had 
sought to win him over to its interest, by the 
offer of a military commission and an annual 
salary. Finding these would not tempt him to 
desert his loose allegiance to England, the court 
of Madrid then removed him from his prison to 
handsome quarters, and hoped to win upon his 
gratitude by supplying him with obsequious at- 
tendants, and feasting him with costly wines, and 
viands of the richest and most delicate kinds. 
But Bowles remained intractable, and, irritated at 
length by his obstinacy, he was again placed in 
irons and sent a prisoner to Manilla, on the Pa- 
cific. Here he remained until 1791, when he 



FORAYS OF BOWLES. 303 



was again sent to Spain. At the island of As- 
cension, while on the voyage, Bowles managed to 
make his escape, and from thence, in some man- 
ner, reached Sierra Leone, where he obtained a 
passage to London. He had returned to the 
coast of Florida in the schooner, the wreck of 
which had been discovered by Ellicott, and taking 
advantage of the war between Spain and Eng- 
land — whose subject he professed to be — had 
carried on for some time a sort of predatory war- 
fare upon the coasting vessels and property of 
Spanish subjects. 

In his conversations with Ellicott, he declared 
his bitter hatred of the latter power, whose posts 
in Florida he avowed his intention of harassing 
by incessant attacks, at the head of the Creeks, 
whom he designated as '<• my people." 

Soon after this, Bowles succeeded in quitting 
the point where Ellicott had discovered him, and, 
entering the Creek nation, was soon enabled to 
acquire a considerable portion of his former 
power. 

For the next three years he kept up a succes- 
sion of forays into the Spanish territory, and 
bringing back into the Indian country the plun- 
der he took, shared it among his adherents. 

The alarm with which his name now inspired 
the Spanish population, and the prosperous issue 
of his incursions, gradually increased his daring. 
At the head of his swarthy followers, he pene- 



304 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



trated the Spanish territory as far as St. Marks, 
captured the fort, and came off with the booty 
unmolested. 

These repeated outrages finally aroused the 
Spanish authorities, and the federal agent, Colonel 
Hawkins. A large reward was secretly offered 
for the capture of the freebooter, and a plot ar- 
ranged for carrying it into effect. It was accom- 
plished. Bowles while at a great feast was sud- 
denly seized by concealed Indians, who sprang 
upon him, bound him, and carried him down the 
river in a canoe filled with armed warriors. 

While the canoe was fastened to the bank of 
the river for the night, Bowles succeeded in 
making his escape from the guards, by gnawing 
asunder the cords that bound him. Crossing the 
river, he entered a dense cane-swamp and fled ; 
but was eventually recaptured, and taken to 
Mobile. From thence he was sent to Havana, 
where, after a few years, he ended his roman- 
tic but turbulent life in the dungeons of Moro 
Castle. 



CONSTITUTION REVISED. 305 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Revision of the constitution of 1789 — Cession of Louisiana to 
France — Jefferson's letter to Livingston' — 'Negotiations — 
Louisiana purchased by the United States — Claiborne ap- 
pointed governor — Takes possession of New Orleans — 
Flourishing condition of Georgia — Milledgeville laid off — 
Becomes the seat of government — Foreign relations of the 
United States — Disputes with England — Embargo laid on 
French ports — Berlin and Milan decrees of Napoleon — Inju- 
ries sustained by American commerce — ^Declaration of war 
against England — Dissatisfaction among the Indians — Te- 
cumseh — Confers with the British agents at Detroit — Departs 
for the south — Stimulates the Seminoles to hostilities — Enters 
the Creek nation — Gains many proselytes — Returns to his 
nation — Outrages on the frontiers— Civil war among the 
Indians — Creek war — War with Great Britain — Peace pro- 
claimed — Difficulties between Georgia and the general go- 
vernment. 

Under the provision to that effect in the state 
constitution of 1789, that instrument was revised 
in 1798. The pecuniary qualifications of gover- 
nor and members of the legislature were slightly 
diminished, but new qualifications of citizenship 
and of residence in the state were added : six 
years residence and twelve years citizenship 
were required to render a candidate eligible to 
the office of governor ; in case of members of the 
legislature, three years residence ; nine years 
citizenship for senators, and seven years for re- 
presentatives. 

Representation in the house was henceforth to 

26» 



306 HISTORY or GEORGIA. 



be regulated by a compound basis of territory 
and population, including in the count three-fifths 
of the people of colour. 

Three thousand inhabitants, according to the 
ratio, were to entitle a county to two members ; 
seven thousand, to three members ; and twelve 
thousand, to four members ; but no county was 
to have less than one member nor more than four. 

Each house was expressly vested with power 
to expel, censure, fine, or imprison its own mem- 
bers for disorderly conduct, to preserve its own 
dignity from disorderly conduct on the part of any 
persons not members, and to punish threats or 
assaults upon any member for any thing said or 
done in the assembly. 

The further importation of slaves from Africa 
or any foreign place was expressly prohibited. 

By a clause copied from the constitution of 
Kentucky, the legislature of Georgia were not 
permitted to pass laws for the emancipation of 
slaves, except with the previous consent of in- 
dividual owners ; nor were they to prohibit im- 
migrants from bringing with them " such persons 
as may be deemed slaves by the law of any one 
of the United States." 

By a further provision, any person found 
guilty of maliciously killing or dismembering a 
slave was to sufi"er the same punishment as if the 
acts had been committed on a free white person, 
except in cases of insurrection, or "unless death 



DIPLOMACY. 307 



should happen by accident, in giving the slave 
moderate correction." 

A subsequent clause claimed, as the property 
of the state, the whole territory as far west as 
the Mississippi, between the thirty-first degree 
of north latitude and a due west continuation of 
the northern line of Georgia. Other clauses fol- 
lowed, regulating the manner by which such ter- 
ritory might be sold, and enjoining that means 
should be provided for refunding such sums as 
had been received by the state under the fraudu- 
lent Yazoo contracts. 

Provision was made for amendina; the constitu- 
tion in future by bills for that purpose, to be 
passed by a two-thirds vote in both houses of two 
successive legislatures, with an intervening pub- 
lication for at least six months prior to the elec- 
tion of the members of the second legislature. 

During the years 1801-2, many rumours had 
reached the government which led to a suspicion 
that France intended to obtain from Spain the 
retrocession of Louisiana, and perhaps with the 
addition of Florida also. 

These rumours increasing, instructions were 
sent to the American ministers at Paris, Madrid, 
and London, to endeavour to defeat the cession. 
The surrender of the province of Louisiana, how- 
ever, had already been made by a secret treaty, 
dated October 1st, 1800 ; but the treaty was not 
to take effect until six months after certain stipu- 



b 



308 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



lations made therein, in favour of Spain, were 
complied with. 

The possession of the mouth of the Mississippi 
by a friendly but enterprising nation like France 
was a matter well calculated to arouse the fears 
of the federal government. 

" This state of things," wrote Jefferson to 
Livingston, then in Paris, '' completely reverses 
all the political relations of the United States, 
and will form a new epoch in our political course. 
We have always looked to France as our natural 
friend — one with whom we could never have an 
occasion of difference ; but there is one spot on 
the globe the possessor of which is our natural 
and habitual enemy. That spot is New Orleans. 
France placing herself in that door assumes to 
us an attitude of defiance. The day that France 
takes possession seals the union of two nations, 
who, in conjunction, can maintain exclusive pos- 
session of the ocean. From that moment we 
must marry ourselves to the British fleet and 
nation." Much more was added, and reasons 
given why the French government should con- 
sent to the transfer of Louisiana to the United 
States ; or if not the whole province, at least the 
island of Orleans ; suggestions, which Mr. Liv- 
ingston was instructed to make in a way not to 
give offence. 

Sentiments so strong doubtless had their effect 
in pressing to a final issue the negotiations which 



NEGOTIATIONS FOR LOUISIANA. 309 



succeeded. The difficulty under wliich Livings- 
ton laboured, however, Avas the want of authority 
to offer any particular sum for the territory, so 
absolutely required for the safety of the United 
States, and the facilities of its western commerce. 

Livingston's personal application to Bonaparte 
met with no favourable response until the appre- 
hension of the latter was quickened by the ap- 
proach of a new European war. On the 11th of 
April, 1803, and shortly before Monroe's arrival 
at Paris, Livingston was requested by Talley- 
rand to make an offer for the whole province of 
Louisiana. 

The government of the United States had con- 
templated the purchase, not of Louisiana alone, 
but of Florida also, and had instructed both Mon- 
roe and Livingston to that effect ; the supposition 
at the time being, that Spain either had included 
or would include both provinces in her cession to 
France. 

The highest amount authorized to be paid for 
the whole was ten millions of dollars. If France 
refused to entertain negotiations at all, the mi- 
nisters were instructed to open a correspondence 
with Great Britain, with the view of preventing 
the French from taking possession of Louisiana, 
and of ultimately securing it to the United 
States. 

The price asked by Bonaparte for Louisiana 
was twenty millions of dollars, with the addition 



310 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



of the payment, by the United States, of the 
claims of American merchants recognised by a 
previous convention. 

The price was finally agreed upon at twelve 
millions of dollars, and the discharge by the home 
government of American claims upon France to 
the extent of four millions more, if they should 
amount to so much. 

The news of this arrangement was received 
with great satisfaction by the president and his 
cabinet, and met with the hearty concurrence of 
the American people. Governor Claiborne was 
soon after appointed governor of Louisiana ter- 
ritory, and, sailing from Natchez down the Mis- 
sissippi, with a military force under General 
Wilkinson, and a large body of emigrants, took 
formal possession of the city of New Orleans on 
the 20th of December, 1803. 

No longer suffering to any extent from the 
incursions of the Indians, nor annoyed by the 
Spaniards of Louisiana, Georgia continued to 
extend her population — which had doubled its 
numbers between 1790 and 1800 — over portions 
of the state hitherto uninhabited. Counties were 
laid off, and steadily but quietly settled. Towns 
and villages sprang up in the wilderness. Out 
of a part of the long-coveted Oconee lands the 
county of Baldwin was laid off in 1803, and a 
site for the town of Milledgeville selected by 
commissioners appointed by the legislature, with 



HER PROSPEROUS CONDITION. 311 



the view of making it the capital of the state, as 
soon as the proper buildings could be erected for 
that purpose. This took place in 1807, in which 
year Milledgeville became the seat of govern- 
ment. 

Nothing material interfered to disturb the 
domestic condition of Georgia for several years. 
Her citizens had indeed suifered under pecuniary 
difficulties, arising from excessive speculation in 
public lands ; but this condition of things did not 
attach to Georgia alone ; other states had also 
suffered from the same cause. The operation of 
what were termed alleviating laws served in some 
measure to correct the temporary embarrass- 
ments, and the recuperative energies of an indus- 
trious people gradually overcame the difficulty 
entirely. But if the local government was work- 
ing smoothly and with but comparatively few 
checks or annoyances, such was not the case 
with the federal government. 

The foreign relations began every day to grow 
more critical. A gallant and spirited resistance 
to the aggressions of the Bashaw of Tripoli had 
ended in a manner honourable to the American 
character. 

The oppressive acts of Great Britain, partly 
brought on by the war between that nation and 
France, and partly arising from her own imperious 
determination to exercise the right she claimed 
of searching any vessels upon the high seas for 



312 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



deserters who might be suspected of being Eng- 
lish subjects, became the source of fierce discus- 
sion among all classes of the American people. 

Many English seamen, tempted by the high 
rate of wages offered by American merchants, 
were employed in our commercial marine. The 
enormous navy maintained by England required 
to be supported by constant impressment ; and, 
under colour of seizing her own citizens, she was 
in the habit of constantly stopping American 
merchantmen, and selecting from the crews such 
men as her subordinate officers chose to consider 
subjects of Great Britain, but who were frequently 
found, subsequently, to be native American citi- 
zens. For this high-handed conduct, redress could 
very rarely be obtained. The grievance had been 
the subject of repeated remonstrances from the 
period of the administration of "Washington to 
the opening of the war ; but Great Britain as 
constantly refused to abandon the exercise of a 
power which she had always heretofore claimed 
as a right. 

As if this cause of complaint was not enough 
to revive old national animosities — for the bitter 
hatred engendered by the war of the Revolution 
had not yet wholly subsided — England issued, in 
1806 and 1807, a series of paper-blockades, by 
which most of the French ports were laid under 
embargo, and American vessels bearing French 
products were declared lawful prize. France 



CONGRESS DECLARES WAR. 313 



retaliated by the famous Berlin decrees, which 
declared the British Islands in a state of blockade, 
and all neutral vessels trading thither lawful prize. 

Both decrees were equally hostile to American 
commerce. But the English had set the first 
example, and the practical operation of their 
orders in council was far more destructive than 
the Berlin and Milan decrees of Napoleon. 

One thousand American vessels, richly laden, 
became the prize of the British cruisers ; irri- 
tating causes of impressment were of constant 
occurrence ; the attack of the English frigate 
Leopard upon the Chesapeake inflamed to the 
highest degree the national mind ; the language 
of American diplomacy became daily more angry 
and impatient, that of England daily more cold 
and haughty. At length, endurance was worn 
out, and on the 18th of June, 1812, the American 
Congress declared war. 

The unhappy difi'erences so long existing be- 
tween England and the United States could not 
fail to have a marked eff'ect upon the Indian 
tribes whose lands were bounded by the British 
possessions in Canada. The turbulent spirit of 
the northwestern Indians soon communicated 
itself to those of the south. 

Tecumseh, the celebrated Shawnee chief, whose 
own wild and lofty eloquence was sustained by 
the mysterious power acquired by his brother 
the prophet, stimulated the Indian tribes to unite 

27 



314 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



into one vast confederacj, and, as allies of Eng- 
land, revenge upon the people of the United 
States their long-continued encroachments upon 
Indian soil. 

Already renowned as a warrior, famous for 
his wonderful powers as an orator, and distin- 
guished above all others by his relentless hatred 
of the Americans, his presence among the various 
tribes was the sure precursor of secret prepara- 
tions for hostilities. 

After having held repeated conferences with 
the British at Detroit in the spring of 1812, Te- 
cumseh, attended by a chosen band of thirty 
warriors, left the territory of the northwest, and, 
moving rapidly southward, penetrated the coun- 
try as far down as Florida, where he succeeded 
in inducing the Seminoles to join his standard. 
Returning thence, he entered the Creek country 
in the month of October, and immediately com- 
menced his intrigues with the chiefs. By the 
time he reached Coosawda, he had gained many 
followers. Colonel Hawkins, the federal agent, 
was at this period holding a grand council at 
Tookabatcha, at which five thousand warriors 
were assembled. Tecumseh boldly repaired to 
that place, and marched into the square at the 
head of his party, hideously painted and adorned. 

While Hawkins remained, Tecumseh declined 
addressing the Indians on the subject of his mis- 
sion ; but the agent had no sooner departed for 



TECUMSEH. 315 



his residence upon the Flint, than a grand council 
was held in the great round-house. 

Here Tecumseh poured forth his passionate 
and heart-stirring appeal. Deriving his powers 
from his brother the Prophet, whose extraordinary 
commission and endowments were well under- 
stood, his authority was regarded with the highest 
veneration. He earnestly entreated them to 
refuse all intercourse with the whites, to throw 
aside the implements and clothing obtained from 
so hateful a source, and, abandoning agriculture, 
to return again to their primitive condition of 
hunters and warriors. After seeking by bursts 
of fiery eloquence to rouse their animosity against 
the Americans, he gave additional weight to his 
designs by assuring them of aid and support from 
the King of England, their ancient friend and 
ally, whose wealth and power he represented as 
without limits, and quite sufficient for the subju- 
gation of the United States. 

A prophet who accompanied Tecumseh next 
spoke. He eulogized the mission of the latter, 
and assured all those who vfere willing to join 
the war party that no harm should befall them, 
even in battle ; that the Great Spirit would pro- 
tect them, and bring confusion upon the Ameri- 
cans ; and that every Georgian would be expelled 
from the soil as far as the Savannah. 

So extraordinary an influence did these daring 
and eloquent discourses exert over the minds of 



316 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



many, that It was with difficulty the most turbu- 
lent of them could be restrained from taking up 
arms at once, and committing depredations on the 
exposed frontiers. 

This hasty measure, however, Tecumseh repre- 
sented as calculated to defeat the great plan of 
operations which he was labouring to concert; 
and enjoined the utmost secrecy and quietness 
until the moment should arrive, when, all their 
preparations being ready, they might be able to 
strike a decisive blow. In the mean time, they 
were to be industriously employed in collecting 
arms and ammunition, and other necessaries of 
war. 

In this manner Tecumseh with his wild follow- 
ers held conferences in the numerous towns of 
the Creek territory, gaining many proselytes, 
and meeting with but occasional opposition from 
those chiefs who either feared the consequences 
of an outbreak, or were stipendiaries of the 
federal government. 

Having ordained Josiah Francis, a half-breed, 
chief prophet of the whole Creek nation, whose 
word was to be regarded as infallible, and whose 
directions were to be implicitly followed, Tecum- 
seh next established a regular gradation of sub- 
ordinate prophets to disseminate his doctrines 
through the different parts of the nation, and 
then, attended by a few of his proselytes, set out 
for his own tribe. 



INDIAN HOSTILITIES. 817 



From this time a regular communication was 
kept up between the Creeks and the northern 
tribes in relation to the great enterprise which 
they were concerting together ; while the parties 
carrying it on, growing daily more insolent and 
unmanageable, committed frequent depredations 
and murders upon the frontier settlements. 

These outrages became at length so numerous 
as to attract the attention of the federal govern- 
ment. Colonel Hawkins, the Indian agent, de- 
manded the punishment of the murderers ; and 
some of the chiefs who were desirous of preserv- 
ing their friendly relations with the United 
States, despatched a party of warriors to put the 
criminals to death. No sooner was this done, 
than the spirit of the greater part of the nation, 
which from motives of policy had hitherto been 
in a great measure suppressed, suddenly burst 
through all restraint, and arrayed the peaceful 
and the hostile Indians against each other in a 
civil war. 

It is not difficult to conceive in what manner 
hostilities thus provoked were gradually extended 
beyond the limits of the Indian territory, and, as 
a measure of retaliation, fell upon the white 
population of the frontiers. 

The war with Great Britain was also at this 

period at its height ; and Georgia was not found 

wanting, either in patriotism toward the country 

at large, or in defence of her own population. 

27* 



318 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



Volunteers flocked from all quarters, many of 
whom attached themselves to the army of General 
Floyd, and assisted to gain that splendid series 
of victories over the Indians by which General 
Andrew Jackson has rendered his name distin- 
guished in history. 

The early successes of the British arms in 
Canada were more than counterbalanced by the 
naval triumphs achieved upon Lake Erie and 
upon the ocean ; by the rout of the combined 
British and Indian forces at the battle of the 
Thames, where the fierce Tecumseh fell ; by the 
repulse of the British before Baltimore, which 
atoned for the disastrous retreat of the militia at 
Bladensburg, and the occupation of the capital ; 
by the successes of Jackson against the southern 
Indians, and by the crowning glory of the war, 
the battle of New Orleans. 

Happily for both countries, the war was not of 
long duration. It was closed by the treaty of 
peace signed at Ghent, on the 26th of December, 
1814, and formally ratified by the United States 
on the 17th of February, 1815. 

Nothing of peculiar importance arrested the 
progress of Georgia for the next seven years. 
The delays and impediments which had constantly 
arisen in relation to the entire extinguishment of 
the Indian title to lands as guarantied to Geor- 
gia in 1802 by her compact with the federal 
government, induced the legislature of 1823 to 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 319 



require of Governor Troupe to use his exertions 
to bring the matter to a speedy termination. 

He accordingly opened a correspondence with 
the secretary of war, which resulted in a com- 
mission to Duncan G. Campbell and James Meri- 
wether, two distinguished Georgians, to treat with 
the Creek Indians. A council was accordingly 
held in December, 1824, at Broken Arrow, on 
the Chattahoochee ; but the negotiation failed, 
owing, it was alleged, to the adverse influence 
exerted by the agents of the United States. 

Early in February, 1825, the commissioners 
again met the Indians in council at the Indian 
Springs, and on the 12th of that month succeeded 
in concluding a treaty with the chiefs then pre- 
sent, which was subsequently transmitted by 
President Monroe to the senate, atnd by that 
body solemnly ratified, notwithstanding a strong 
protest against it by Crowell, the Indian agent. 

In May, 1825, an extra session of the legisla- 
ture was called by Governor Troupe, for the pur- 
pose of providing for the immediate survey of the 
land acquired by the late treaty. An act was 
passed accordingly, and in connection with it, a 
strong resolution was adopted calling upon the 
president to remove Crowell, the Indian agent, 
from ofiice, as the enemy of Georgia, and as 
faithless to his government. 

John Quincy Adams had in the mean time 
succeeded Mr. Monroe as President of the United 



820 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



States. He declined removing the agent, but 
instituted an inquiry into bis conduct. He ap- 
pointed a clerk of bureau for that purpose, and 
at the same time commissioned Major-general 
Gaines to repair to Georgia, suppress the disorders 
already arisen in the Indian nation, and compose 
its dissensions. 

The presence of these high functionaries by no 
means tended to smooth the asperities of Georgia. 
A bitter feud then existing between two great 
parties in the state — though mainly on personal 
grounds— increased the agitation of the public 
mind. General Gaines allied himself with the 
party in opposition to Governor Troupe, and, in 
conjunction with the clerk of bureau, reported 
against the treaty, the merits of which neither 
of them had been instructed to inquire into. A 
very exciting correspondence now ensued between 
the executive of Georgia and the federal govern- 
ment. A survey was determined on by the 
former, and prohibited by President Adams. 
Troupe demanded the recall and court-martial of 
General Gaines, as the legislature had previously 
requested the removal of Crowell. The president 
retained both in their respective offices. All 
Georgia was now in a ferment. A new election 
for governor took place soon after, and the course 
of Troupe was sustained by the votes of the peo- 
ple. Even the legislature, although opposed to 
the governor in both branches on mere party 



IMPENDING DANGERS. 321 



politics, resolved, that '' full faith ought to be 
placed in the treaty ; that the title of Georgia 
under it was vested and absolute ; and that the 
right of entry immediately on the expiration of 
the time limited by it should be insisted on and 
carried into effect." They again required the 
removal of the federal agent, which was again 
rejected. 

Affairs between the state and general govern- 
ment were now speedily approaching a serious 
issue. In January, 1826, Governor Troupe issued 
his orders for the militia to be divided into three 
classes, and expressed his belief that the general 
officers could not find themselves indifferent to 
the crisis in which the country was placed. The 
federal government had already assembled on 
the Chattahoochee and Flint a force of four hun- 
dred regulars, and the peace of the union seemed 
every day in danger of being disturbed by that 
most deplorable of all evils — a civil war. 

In this emergency, a new treaty was made with 
certain Creek chiefs at Washington on the 24th 
of January, 1826, which, while it annulled the 
treaty of 1825, ceded to Georgia nearly all the 
land covered by the old treaty, and extended the 
time of surrender to the 1st of January, 1827. 

But Georgia would accept nothing less than 
the conditions of the previous treaty. In July, 
1826, commissioners were appointed to run the 
line as laid down by the contract of 1802. As 



322 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



soon as this was accompllslied the survey was 
commenced, and met with no resistance from the 
federal government until February, 1827, when 
the president ordered those surveyors to be ar- 
rested who should overstep the boundary laid 
down in the late treaty at Washington. Governor 
Troupe immediately retaliated by directing the 
proper legal officers of Georgia to bring to jus- 
tice, by indictment or otherwise, all the parties 
who might be concerned in arresting the survey- 
ors ; and sent orders to the major-generals of the 
sixth and seventh divisions of militia, to hold 
their commands in readiness to repel any hostile 
invasion of the state. 

This energetic opposition had its effect. The 
surveyors were not arrested ; the surveys were 
completed ; and the entire domain covered by the 
old treaty was organized and disposed of by lot- 
tery in 1827. 



SOIL OP GEORGIA. 323 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

The soil of Georgia — Tide-swamp lands — Sea Islands — Swamp 
lands of the Savannah, Alatamaha, Ogechee, and the Great 
St. Ilia — Character of the soils in the middle regions of the 
state — Lands in south-western Georgia — Cherokee Georgia 
—The gold region — Railroads — Cotton manufactories — Fi- 
delity of Georgia to the Union — Sends volunteers to Florida 
— Mexico — Conclusion. 

The natural quality of tlie soil in Georgia is 
very variable. The general poverty of the pine 
lands gave rise at an early day to an impression 
that a great proportion of the land in the pro- 
vince was infertile. As population increased, it 
was found that the tide-swamp lands on the 
southern frontier of the state would yield, with 
fair cultivation, immense quantities of rice, which 
constituted then, as it does now, one of the staple 
productions of Georgia. For the finer descrip- 
tions of cotton, the Sea Islands have long been 
famous, both at home and abroad. The tide- 
swamp lands of the Savannah, the Alatamaha, 
the Ogechee, and the great St. Ilia, are now con- 
sidered as among the most valuable soils in the 
state. The inland swamps are also very produc- 
tive, but they labour under the disadvantage of 
a greater uncertainty in regard to their crops. 

In the middle region of the state, the soil is of 



324 HISTOKT OF GEORGIA. 



a rich red loamy character, producing cotton^ 
tobacco, and all the grains. A careless system 
of husbandry has done much to imp^overish this 
healthy and beautiful region, but with increase of 
intelligence, new and better modes of cultivation 
are being introduced, and the prospects are fa- 
vourable to a restoration of these choice lands 
to their original fertility. 

In the southwestern portions of the state, there 
are large bodies of very superior land. In the 
counties of Randolph, Decatur, and Early, and in 
other sections between the Chattahoochee and the 
Flint, lands are to be found of inexhaustible fer- 
tility, producing every thing wdiich the comfort 
or necessity of man requires. In Cherokee Geor- 
gia there are also large bodies of fertile land.. 
The valleys of Chattooga, Cass, Floyd, and Mur- 
ray, are exceedingly rich, producing wheat, corn, 
potatoes, and other vegetables ; but are not so 
well adapted to the purposes of the cotton planter 
as the soils of the middle region. In Oglethorpe 
county there are bodies of land which have been 
cultivated for more than half a century, and 
which still produce seven and eight hundred 
pounds of cotton to the acre. 

The northw^estern part of the state is the gold 
region of Georgia, which, from its richness and 
extent, is the most remarkable feature of the 
primary rock formation. Its western boundary 
is the western base of the Blue Ridge. " The rich- 



THE GOLD MINES. 325 



est deposits are found occupying a belt along the 
eastern slope of that range of mountains, varying 
in width from fifteen to twenty miles ; but gold 
has been discovered at various points one hundred 
miles to the east of it, as far as Columbia county, 
and thence in a line, nearly parallel to the prin- 
cipal belt, to Alabama. The gold is found in 
both vein and deposit mines. In the former it 
generally occurs in quartzose veins, running 
through rocks of gneiss, mica schist, talcose 
schist, and chlorite schist. The quartz forming 
the veins is usually of a cellular structure, gene- 
rally discoloured by iron, and with the cavities 
more or less filled with a fine yellow ochre. The 
gold, which varies much in the size of its particles, 
is found either in small scales, (its most usual 
form,) in the cavities or the fissures of the quartz, 
or in the yellow ochre, or in combination with the 
sulphurets of iron, of copper, and of lead, or 
united with silver. It sometimes, but rarely, 
exists in the adjoining schistose rocks. 

" The deposit mines are of alluvial formation, 
obviously produced by the washing down of the 
detritus of the auriferous veins into the adjoining 
valleys. The schistose rocks, which are of a 
more perishable character, having crumbled away, 
and left the quartz veins exposed, the latter have 
fallen down from a want of support, and have 
been swept by torrents into the valleys below. 
The quartz pebbles, and the harder portions of 

28 



326 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



the including rocks, and the gold, being heavy, 
would be deposited at the bottom of the streams, 
and would occur in the greatest quantity when 
there were the greatest inequalities. The lighter 
materials would at first be swept down to a lower 
point, or be deposited along the borders of the 
streams; but, with a change of the beds of the 
streams, or a diminution of their velocity, these 
materials would gradually accumulate over the 
original beds of pebbles and gold, and the valleys 
would ultimately present the appearance which 
they now do, of a stratum of several feet of allu- 
vial loam covering another of water-worn pebbles 
of quartz and schist, containing particles of gold, 
the whole resting on an original bed of schistose 
rocks, similar in constitution and dip to those of 
the surrounding hills. The quartz pebbles are 
usually flattened on the sides, indicating their 
compression in the veins, and are more or less 
water-worn, as they have for a longer or shorter 
period been exposed to the action of the currents 
of water." 

The first discovery of gold in this state was 
made on Duke's Creek, Habersham county, in 
1829. The mass weighed three ounces. After 
this, discoveries were rapidly made in all direc- 
tions from Carolina to Alabama, and some of the 
mines were immensely rich. The gold obtained 
for the first few years was from the alluvion of 
the streams ; after which many diluvial deposits 



HER GOLD MINES. 327 



were found, and subsequently many rich veins. 
The gold in the veins is generally imbedded in 
sulphuret of iron in quartz, sometimes in quartz 
alone, and, in a few instances, in micaceous and 
talcose slate, the auriferous pyrites being inter- 
spersed in minute crystals through the slate. The 
first-mentioned class are common, and abound 
everywhere, running parallel with the formation 
of the country, the general direction of which is 
northeast and southwest, corresponding with the 
Alleghany chain of mountains. These veins are 
usually enclosed in micaceous or talcose schist, 
some in chlorite and hornblende, rarely in gneiss 
or granite. In some instances the root of the 
vein is slate, and the floor granite or gneiss. 
The decomposition of the different strata varies 
from fifty to one hundred feet, and decreases as 
you near the mountains, where the overlying 
rocks terminate, and the veins cease to be auri- 
ferous. A few veins have been found which 
traverse the formation in which they are enclosed, 
and in every instance the gold is found to contain 
from fifteen to sixty-six per cent, of silver, whereas 
all parallel veins are alloyed with copper, from 
one-eighth to one-fortieth, and without a trace of 
silver. Of the former class is the Potosi mine, 
in Hall county, which runs northwest by west, is 
one foot wide, (average,) and was immensely rich 
in pockets. The first cropped out and extended 
about twelve feet deep by fifteen laterally, yield- 



328 HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 



ing over ten thousand pennyweights. Some ten 
feet from that, another pocket occurred, much 
richer, the gold being enclosed in felspar, with 
octahedral crystals of quartz radiating from it 
without a particle of gold. These veins are evi- 
dently of comparatively recent formation. Ore 
which yields twenty-five cents per bushel is con- 
sidered profitable, provided the veins are large 
enough to furnish abundantly, and there is no 
extra expense. Where there is much water it 
requires expensive machinery, and the ore must 
be rich, and the vein of considerable size, to jus- 
tify it. Many, mines have and do yet yield much 
more — from fifty to one hundred cents per bushel, 
and a few even more, even reaching to several 
hundred dollars per bushel. Of such are the 
Calhoun and Battle Branch veins, and also the 
celebrated 1052 mine near Dahlonega. These 
are technically called pocket-veins, as the gold is 
found in limited portions of them, the rest with- 
out any. The greatest depths yet reached do not 
exceed eighty feet below the water-level, nor more 
than one hundred and forty feet below their out- 
crop ; whereas, in the old world, they have gone 
more than two thousand feet. We consequently 
can form no opinion relative to their productive- 
ness. Generally the mines are abandoned as soon 
as the water appears ; the operators being men 
of but little capital, and ignorant of the proper 
mode of working below the water-level. Another 



RAILROADS AND MANUFACTURES. 329 



and more powerful reason is, that, with but few 
exceptions, the veins become poorer as you de- 
scend, and below the water very poor. 

The mode of working the mine or ores is hj 
amalgamation. The ore is first reduced to pow- 
der, either wet or dry, by the action of stamps or 
pestles, weighing from one hundred to five hun- 
dred pounds ; after which it passes through dif- 
ferent-sized screens or grates, and then through 
various amalgamating machines, by which the 
quicksilver is made to take up the particles or 
dust of gold, forming an amalgam, which is dis- 
tilled in a retort, saving the quicksilver for further 
use, and the mass of gold is melted in a crucible 
into bars or ingots for coining. Its average fine- 
ness is twenty-three carats. From the best in- 
formation received, the amount obtained from 
1829 to 1838 was sixteen million pennyweights, 
and from that time until 1849 four million ; 
every year diminishing, notwithstanding the great 
improvements in machinery and increased practi- 
cal knowledge. 

But the future prosperity of Georgia is not so 
much assured by the production of her gold- 
bearing regions, or the operations of her indus- 
trious agriculturists, as by her wise and well- 
regulated system of railroads, and the admirable 
provision by which she has of late years encou- 
raged manufactures generally, and in an especial 
manner those for the fabrication of cotton-cloths 

28* 



330 HISTORY OP GEORGIA. 



— a branch of business for which the state is ad- 
mirably adapted, from her immense facilities in 
the way of water-power. 

Already, there are railroads stretching from 
Savannah to the Tennessee line, with branch 
roads, either finished or in contemplation, to 
Augusta, Athens, Atlanta, Macon, and Columbus ; 
and in various portions of the state admitting of 
such a purpose, cotton-mills have been for a long 
time in successful operation. 

These facilities for the transportation of staple 
productions, joined to the creation of a home- 
market, will gradually tend more and more to 
develop the latent resources of Georgia, and 
place the industrial position of the state upon a 
firm and indestructible basis. 

True to the Union, notwithstanding her occa- 
sional difficulties with the federal government, 
she encouraged her sons to volunteer their ser- 
vices in those harassing campaigns in Florida, 
where the oozy bivouacs and the pestilential 
miasma of the everglades were far more destruc- 
tive to human life than the weapons of the Semi- 
noles. In the recent war with Mexico, also, the 
brave yeomanry of Georgia were among the fore- 
most to respond to the call of their country, and 
were honourably distinguished by the prompt and 
gallant ardour with which they performed their 
various and responsible duties. 



CONCLUSION. 331 



And here we bring this volume to a close, hav- 
ing been careful to omit no fact of importance, 
and to present as many points of interest in the 
narrative as strict truth to history would allow. 



The authorities mainly relied upon in this work 
have been McCall's History of Georgia, Pickett's 
History of Alabama, White's Statistics of the 
State of Georgia, and Hildreth's History of the 
United States. 



THE END. 



STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CO. 
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